dangervsdanseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,476
“danger” frequency rank
#1,658
“danse” frequency rank
3134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature danger danse
Definition Ce qui est ordinairement suivi d’un malheur, ou qui expose à une perte, à un dommage, etc. Mouvement du corps exécuté en cadence, à pas mesurés, et au son d’instruments ou de la voix.

Where the eye mixes danger and danse

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

6 ch
danger
5 ch
danse

Visual trap between danger and danse

A purely visual mix-up. danger (\dɑ̃.ʒe\) and danse (\dɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

danger is recorded at frequency rank #1,476, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃.ʒe\. danse is at rank #1,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃s\.

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 3134, this pair ranks #434,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of danger vs danse

Shared letters: aden. Private to "danger": gr. Private to "danse": s.

"danger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "danse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dangeradnger · dagner · danegr · dangerr · dangger · dangre · dannger · ddanger
  • danseadnse · danes · dannse · dansse · dasne · ddanse · dnase

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "danger" and "danse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɑ̃.ʒe\ versus \dɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "danger" vs "danse" - which ranks higher?
"danger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,476 in our French list, against #1,658 for "danse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "danger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "danse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "danger" and "danse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "damné vs danse". 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 #434,720 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