Which to use
“Duft” and “duty” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,850
- “Duft” frequency rank
- #21,948
- “duty” frequency rank
- 30798
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Duft | duty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein angenehmer Geruch, der sich verbreitet oder ausgebracht wird; organische oder chemische Verbindung | die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht |
Where the eye mixes Duft and duty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Duft vs duty
A purely visual mix-up. Duft ([dʊft]) 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 30798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Duft is recorded at frequency rank #8,850, classified as anoun, pronounced [dʊft]. 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 30798, this pair ranks #1,740,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Duft vs duty
Shared letters: dtu. Private to "Duft": f. Private to "duty": y.
"Duft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Duft" and "duty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Duft" or "duty" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Duft" 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 #1,740,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Duft" 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 #1,740,859 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.