Which to use
“dans” is a noun and “den” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,559
- “dans” frequency rank
- #19,112
- “den” frequency rank
- 33671
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dans | den |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | acusativo singular de dansur | o, artigo definido masculino do caso acusativo singular: |
Where the eye mixes dans and den
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dans runs 4 letters (CVCC) against den's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dans with den
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dans is /ˈdan̥s/ while den is /deːn/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33671, 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/. den is at rank #19,112, tagged as anarticle, pronounced /deːn/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 33671, this pair ranks #33,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dans vs den
Shared letters: dn. Private to "dans": as. Private to "den": e.
"dans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "den" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dans ← adns · danns · danss · dasn · ddans · dnas
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dans" and "den" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dans" vs "den" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dans" and "den" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "den" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dans" and "den" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs den". 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 #33,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.