Which to use
“duc” is a noun and “duck” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,075
- “duc” frequency rank
- #17,855
- “duck” frequency rank
- 65930
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duc | duck |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Herzog, der Führer | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ducken |
Where the eye mixes duc and duck
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between duc and duck
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: duc is [duk] while duck is [dʊk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “duc” sits inside “duck”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duc is recorded at frequency rank #48,075, classified as anoun, pronounced [duk]. duck is at rank #17,855, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʊk].
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 65930, this pair ranks #590,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of duc vs duck
Shared letters: cdu. Private to "duc": -. Private to "duck": k.
"duc" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "duck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- duck ← dcuk · dduck · ducck · duckk · dukc · udck
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "duc" for "duck" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "duc" or "duck" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "duc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #590,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duc" and "duck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duc vs dusch". 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 #590,191 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.