dowvsducWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dow is a adjective, duc is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dow” is an adjective and “duc” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,541
“dow” frequency rank
#48,075
“duc” frequency rank
67616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dow duc
Definition sehr schwerhörig oder gehörlos der Herzog, der Führer

Letter map: dow vs duc

Shared letters muted; letters that set dow and duc apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
dow
3 ch
duc

Role in the sentence - dow and duc

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dow is anadjective and ducanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dow is recorded at frequency rank #19,541, classified as anadj. duc is at rank #48,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced [duk].

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 67616, this pair ranks #534,334 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dow vs duc

Shared letters: d. Private to "dow": ow. Private to "duc": cu.

"dow" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "duc" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dow" and "duc" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dow" is an adjective and "duc" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dow" or "duc" show up more?
"dow" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,541 in our German list, against #48,075 for "duc". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dow" and "duc".

  • Full dictionary entry for "dow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #534,334 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dow" and "duc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duc vs dusch". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #534,334 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list