damavsdatWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dama is a noun, dat is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dama” is a noun and “dat” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,460
“dama” frequency rank
#49,908
“dat” frequency rank
54368
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dama dat
Definition peça do jogo de xadrez aquele; pronome neutro que se refere a algo ou alguém distante de quem fala

Where the eye mixes dama and dat

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

4 ch
dama
3 ch
dat

Why the eye confuses dama with dat

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dama is /ˈdɐ.mɐ/ while dat is [dɑt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dama is recorded at frequency rank #4,460, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɐ.mɐ/. dat is at rank #49,908, tagged as apron, pronounced [dɑt].

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 54368, this pair ranks #11,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dama vs dat

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dama": m. Private to "dat": t.

"dama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • damadamma · ddama · dmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dama" for "dat" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dama" is a noun and "dat" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dama" or "dat"?
"dama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,460 in our Portuguese list, against #49,908 for "dat". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dama" and "dat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "damo 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 #11,318 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