Duff

[…]

/[…]/ name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Duff” is uncommon German (frequency #52,031 among 2,764 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,031
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Familienname, Nachname

Corpus desk

Index DE-duff · Duff · German

Duff · rank #52,031 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,031
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Duellen

Nearest frequency peer: Duellen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „Duff“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Duff“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Duff
PropertyValue
HeadwordDuff
LanguageGerman
Part of speechProper noun
IPA[…]
Letters4
Frequency rank#52,031
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Duff“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Dufffällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Duellen“ (#52,030), „dumpfen“ (#52,032), „dunkelblauen“ (#52,033). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „Duff“ bei #52,031. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Duff is uncommon German at frequency #52,031 among 2,764 “D” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Familienname, Nachname".

Duff doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Duff, spelled D-U-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Familienname, Nachname

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Duff appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Frau Duff ist ein Genie im Verkauf.
  2. Herr Duff wollte uns kein Interview geben.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Duff"?
"Duff" is spelled D-U-F-F. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "Duff" mean?
As a proper noun, "Duff" means: Familienname, Nachname
How do you pronounce "Duff"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Duff" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Duff" come from?
"Duff" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Duff", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Brom#52,000geek#52,101ames#51,907Alis#51,903

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list