drug vs Dus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“drug” is a verb and “Dus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,692
“drug” frequency rank: #19,874
“Dus” frequency rank: 58566
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	drug	Dus
Definition	Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs drag	Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Du

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set drug and Dus apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

drug

3 ch

Dus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: drug is [dɹʌɡ] while Dus is [duːs]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

drug is recorded at frequency rank #38,692, classified as averb, pronounced [dɹʌɡ]. Dus is at rank #19,874, tagged as anoun, pronounced [duːs].

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 58566, this pair ranks #857,852 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of drug vs Dus

Shared letters: du. Private to "drug": gr. Private to "Dus": s.

"drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Dus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

drug ← ddrug · drgu · drrug · drugg · durg · rdug

Frequency comparison

drug#38,692

Dus#19,874

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "drug" and "Dus" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "drug" is a verb and "Dus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "drug" or "Dus"?

"Dus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,874 in our German list, against #38,692 for "drug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering drug vs Dus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “drug”; for a noun, it's “Dus”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “drug” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable