DakarvsdamasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Dakar is a name, damas is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Dakar” is a name and “damas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,371
“Dakar” frequency rank
#9,304
“damas” frequency rank
17675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dakar damas
Definition Capitale du Sénégal située sur la presqu'île du Cap-Vert. Étoffe de soie à fleurs ou à dessins en relief où le satin et le taffetas sont mêlés ensemble et qui se fabriquait originairement à Damas, en Syrie ; les fleurs sont en satin à l’endroit et forment le taffetas et le fond de l’envers, et le taffetas qui fait le fond à l’endroit est le satin de l’envers.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Dakar and damas apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Dakar
5 ch
damas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dakar is \da.kaʁ\ while damas is \da.ma\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dakar is recorded at frequency rank #8,371, classified as aname, pronounced \da.kaʁ\. damas is at rank #9,304, tagged as anoun, pronounced \da.ma\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 17675, this pair ranks #382,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dakar vs damas

Shared letters: ad. Private to "Dakar": kr. Private to "damas": ms.

"Dakar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "damas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dakaradkar · daakr · dakarr · dakkar · dakra · ddakar · dkaar
  • damasadmas · daams · damass · dammas · damsa · ddamas · dmaas

Frequency comparison

Dakar#8,371
damas#9,304

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Dakar" and "damas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dakar" is a name and "damas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Dakar" or "damas"?
"Dakar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,371 in our French list, against #9,304 for "damas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Dakar vs damas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Dakar”; for a noun, it's “damas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Dakar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list