Which to use
“dans” and “dash” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,559
- “dans” frequency rank
- #21,982
- “dash” frequency rank
- 36541
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dans | dash |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | acusativo singular de dansur | travessão, hífen |
Where the eye mixes dans and dash
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dans with dash
A purely visual mix-up. dans (/ˈdan̥s/) and dash (/ˈdæʃ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dans is recorded at frequency rank #14,559, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdan̥s/. dash is at rank #21,982, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdæʃ/.
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 36541, this pair ranks #30,244 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dans vs dash
Shared letters: ads. Private to "dans": n. Private to "dash": h.
"dans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dans" for "dash" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dans" vs "dash" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,244 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dans" and "dash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dash 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 #30,244 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.