dualvsDurWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#13,577
“dual” frequency rank
#10,455
“Dur” frequency rank
24032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dual Dur
Definition eine Zweiheit bildend, aus zwei Einheiten bestehend Tongeschlecht einer Klangverbindung, deren Charakteristikum eine große Terz im Verhältnis zum Grundton ist

Where the eye mixes dual and Dur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dual
3 ch
Dur

Visual trap between dual and Dur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dual is [duˈaːl] while Dur is [duːɐ̯]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dual is recorded at frequency rank #13,577, classified as anadj, pronounced [duˈaːl]. Dur is at rank #10,455, tagged as anoun, pronounced [duːɐ̯].

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 24032, this pair ranks #1,853,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dual vs Dur

Shared letters: du. Private to "dual": al. Private to "Dur": r.

"dual" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dualdaul · ddual · duall · dula · udal

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dual" for "Dur" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dual" is an adjective and "Dur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dual" or "Dur"?
"Dur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,455 in our German list, against #13,577 for "dual". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "dual" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,853,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dual" and "Dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dual vs duran". 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 #1,853,257 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