Which to use
“das” is a contraction and “dash” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35
- “das” frequency rank
- #21,982
- “dash” frequency rank
- 22017
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | das | dash |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | da preposição de com o artigo definido feminino plural as | travessão, hífen |
Where the eye mixes das and dash
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses das with dash
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: das is /dɐs/ while dash is /ˈdæʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “das” sits inside “dash”, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
das is recorded at frequency rank #35, classified as acontraction, pronounced /dɐs/. 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 22017, this pair ranks #48,116 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of das vs dash
Shared letters: ads. Private to "das": -. Private to "dash": h.
"das" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dash ← adsh · dahs · dashh · dassh · ddash · dsah
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "das" for "dash" ever safe?
Frequency check: "das" 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 "das" 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 #48,116 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "das" 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 #48,116 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.