duty
[ˈdjuːti]
The verdict
“duty” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #21,948 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #21,948
- frequency rank, German
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | duty |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈdjuːti] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #21,948 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “duty” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for duty is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈdjuːti]. Corpus data places it at rank #21,948 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for duty, with forms such as "dduty", "dtuy", and "dutty". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "du", "day", "duo", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is duty, spelled D-U-T-Y.
Definition
- 1die moralische oder gesetzliche Pflicht
- 2der berufliche oder militärische Dienst
- 3die Steuer auf Waren, besonders auf Einfuhren
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: dduty,dtuy,dutty,dutyy,duyt,udty
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of duty - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Using “duty”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is D-U-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈdjuːti] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “du” - see the side-by-side comparison. duty vs du
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.