damesvsdrameConfusable pair

Which to use

“dames” and “drame” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,140
“dames” frequency rank
#3,326
“drame” frequency rank
7466
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dames drame
Definition Jeu de dames, jeu stratégique à deux joueurs, se jouant avec des pions blancs et noirs sur un damier de 64, 100 ou 144 cases selon la variante des règles utilisée. Pièce de théâtre (tragique ou comique).

Where the eye mixes dames and drame

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dames
5 ch
drame

Visual trap between dames and drame

A purely visual mix-up. dames (\dam\) and drame (\dʁam\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dames is recorded at frequency rank #4,140, classified as anoun, pronounced \dam\. drame is at rank #3,326, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʁam\.

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 7466, this pair ranks #423,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dames vs drame

Shared letters: adem. Private to "dames": s. Private to "drame": r.

"dames" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "drame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • damesadmes · daems · damess · dammes · damse · ddames · dmaes
  • dramedarme · ddrame · draem · dramme · drmae · drrame · rdame

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dames" and "drame" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dam\ versus \dʁam\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dames" vs "drame" - which ranks higher?
"drame" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,326 in our French list, against #4,140 for "dames". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dames" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dames" and "drame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drame vs dray". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #423,079 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list