ducvsdzWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“duc” and “dz” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,075
“duc” frequency rank
#17,857
“dz” frequency rank
65932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duc dz
Definition der Herzog, der Führer Digraph in der polnischen Sprache

Where the eye mixes duc and dz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
duc
2 ch
dz

Visual trap between duc and dz

A purely visual mix-up. duc ([duk]) and dz ([d͡zɛ]) 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 65932, 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]. dz is at rank #17,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d͡zɛ].

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 65932, this pair ranks #590,141 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of duc vs dz

Shared letters: d. Private to "duc": cu. Private to "dz": z.

"duc" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dz" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "duc" and "dz" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([duk] versus [d͡zɛ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "duc" vs "dz" - which ranks higher?
"dz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,857 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "duc" and "dz" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #590,141 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duc" and "dz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duc vs dusch". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #590,141 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