DurvsdutyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,455
“Dur” frequency rank
#21,948
“duty” frequency rank
32403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dur duty
Definition Tongeschlecht einer Klangverbindung, deren Charakteristikum eine große Terz im Verhältnis zum Grundton ist die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht

Where the eye mixes Dur and duty

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Dur
4 ch
duty

Look-alike desk: Dur vs duty

A purely visual mix-up. Dur ([duːɐ̯]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dur is recorded at frequency rank #10,455, classified as anoun, pronounced [duːɐ̯]. 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 32403, this pair ranks #1,708,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dur vs duty

Shared letters: du. Private to "Dur": r. Private to "duty": ty.

"Dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dutydduty · dtuy · dutty · dutyy · duyt · udty

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Dur" and "duty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([duːɐ̯] versus [ˈdjuːti]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Dur" or "duty"?
"Dur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,455 in our German list, against #21,948 for "duty". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dur" 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 #1,708,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dur" 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 #1,708,341 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