Which to use
“duc” and “duty” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,075
- “duc” frequency rank
- #21,948
- “duty” frequency rank
- 70023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duc | duty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Herzog, der Führer | die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht |
Where the eye mixes duc and duty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses duc with duty
A purely visual mix-up. duc ([duk]) and duty ([ˈdjuːti]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70023, 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]. duty is at rank #21,948, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdjuːti].
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 70023, this pair ranks #458,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of duc vs duty
Shared letters: du. Private to "duc": c. Private to "duty": ty.
"duc" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- duty ← dduty · dtuy · dutty · dutyy · duyt · udty
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "duc" and "duty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "duc" or "duty" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "duc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #458,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duc" and "duty" 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 #458,831 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.