DungvsdutyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,866
“Dung” frequency rank
#21,948
“duty” frequency rank
67814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dung duty
Definition ein Gemisch von Fäkalien zum Fördern des Wachstums von (Nutz-)Pflanzen die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht

Where the eye mixes Dung and duty

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Dung (CVCC) and duty (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Dung
4 ch
duty

Visual trap between Dung and duty

A purely visual mix-up. Dung ([dʊŋ]) 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 67814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dung is recorded at frequency rank #45,866, classified as anoun, pronounced [dʊŋ]. 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 67814, this pair ranks #527,921 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Dung vs duty

Shared letters: du. Private to "Dung": gn. Private to "duty": ty.

"Dung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dung ← ddung · dnug · dugn · dungg · dunng · udng
  • duty ← dduty · dtuy · dutty · dutyy · duyt · udty

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Dung" and "duty" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dʊŋ] versus [ˈdjuːti]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Dung" vs "duty" - which ranks higher?
"duty" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,948 in our German list, against #45,866 for "Dung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dung" 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 #527,921 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dung" and "duty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duch vs Dung". 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 #527,921 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