damvsdansWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“dam” and “dans” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,654
“dam” frequency rank
#14,559
“dans” frequency rank
49213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dam dans
Definition senhora acusativo singular de dansur

Where the eye mixes dam and dans

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
dam
4 ch
dans

Why the eye confuses dam with dans

A purely visual mix-up. dam (/dɑːm/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and dans (/ˈdan̥s/) 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 49213, 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 ?). dans is at rank #14,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdan̥s/.

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 49213, this pair ranks #15,847 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dam vs dans

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dam": m. Private to "dans": ns.

"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dansadns · danns · danss · dasn · ddans · dnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dam" and "dans" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɑːm/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /ˈdan̥s/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dam" vs "dans" - which ranks higher?
"dans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,559 in our Portuguese list, against #34,654 for "dam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,847 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dam" and "dans" 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 #15,847 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list