damvsdelTell them apart

Quick tell: dam is a noun, del is a contraction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dam” is a noun and “del” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,654
“dam” frequency rank
#1,706
“del” frequency rank
36360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dam del
Definition senhora do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:

Letter map: dam vs del

Shared letters muted; letters that set dam and del apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
dam
3 ch
del

Grammar separator: dam vs del

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dam is anoun and delacontraction. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36360, 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 ?). del is at rank #1,706, tagged as acontraction.

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 36360, this pair ranks #30,483 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dam vs del

Shared letters: d. Private to "dam": am. Private to "del": el.

"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "del" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dam" and "del" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dam" is a noun and "del" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dam" or "del"?
"del" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,706 in our Portuguese list, against #34,654 for "dam". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "dam" vs "del" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "del" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,483 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dam" and "del" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dam vs dat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,483 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