dukevsdunConfusable pair

Quick tell: duke is a particle, dun is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“duke” is a particle and “dun” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,578
“duke” frequency rank
#37,461
“dun” frequency rank
51039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duke dun
Definition - im Zustand nach Genuss von zu viel Alkohol

Letter map: duke vs dun

Shared letters muted; letters that set duke and dun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
duke
3 ch
dun

Grammar separator: duke vs dun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: duke is aparticle and dunanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duke is recorded at frequency rank #13,578, classified as aparticle, pronounced […]. dun is at rank #37,461, tagged as anadj, pronounced [duːn].

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 51039, this pair ranks #1,150,833 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of duke vs dun

Shared letters: du. Private to "duke": ek. Private to "dun": n.

"duke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dukedduke · dkue · duek · dukke · udke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "duke" for "dun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "duke" is a particle and "dun" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "duke" or "dun" show up more?
"duke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,578 in our German list, against #37,461 for "dun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "duke" vs "dun" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,150,833 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duke" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dun vs duran". 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 #1,150,833 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