Which to use
“dude” and “duty” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,271
- “dude” frequency rank
- #21,948
- “duty” frequency rank
- 36219
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dude | duty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Typ, der Kerl, der Mann, der Macker (der in einer Stadt lebt) | die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht |
Where the eye mixes dude and duty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dude and duty
A purely visual mix-up. dude ([duːd]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dude is recorded at frequency rank #14,271, classified as anoun, pronounced [duːd]. 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 36219, this pair ranks #1,621,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dude vs duty
Shared letters: du. Private to "dude": e. Private to "duty": ty.
"dude" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dude" for "duty" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dude" or "duty"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dude" and "duty" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dude" 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 #1,621,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dude" and "duty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duch vs duty". 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 #1,621,100 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.