Which to use
“dem” is a noun and “drum” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,107
- “dem” frequency rank
- #47,293
- “drum” frequency rank
- 63400
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dem | drum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | démonstration d’un produit pour en faire la promotion. | Contraction de darum. |
Letter map: dem vs drum
Shared letters muted; letters that set dem and drum apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: dem vs drum
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dem is anoun and drumanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dem is recorded at frequency rank #16,107, classified as anoun. drum is at rank #47,293, tagged as anadv, pronounced \dʀʊm\.
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 63400, this pair ranks #82,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dem vs drum
Shared letters: dm. Private to "dem": e. Private to "drum": ru.
"dem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "drum" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- drum ← ddrum · drmu · drrum · drumm · durm · rdum
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dem" for "drum" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dem" or "drum"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "dem" and "drum". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "dem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dem" and "drum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dray vs drum". 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 #82,141 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.