Which to use
“dam” and “dama” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,654
- “dam” frequency rank
- #4,460
- “dama” frequency rank
- 39114
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dam | dama |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | senhora | peça do jogo de xadrez |
Where the eye mixes dam and dama
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dam runs 3 letters (CVC) against dama's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dam vs dama
A purely visual mix-up. dam (/dɑːm/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and dama (/ˈdɐ.mɐ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “dam” sits inside “dama”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dam is recorded at frequency rank #34,654, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɑːm/ ouvir^(fonte ?). dama is at rank #4,460, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɐ.mɐ/.
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 39114, this pair ranks #27,227 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dam vs dama
Shared letters: adm. Private to "dam": -. Private to "dama": -.
"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dama ← damma · ddama · dmaa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dam" for "dama" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dam" or "dama"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dam" and "dama" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,227 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dam" and "dama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dam vs dat". 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 #27,227 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.