English homophones
dum/dumb
"dumb" (#2,788 written frequency) beats "dum" (#23,517) in this 2-word /dʌm/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /dʌm/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "dumb" leads at #2,788, with "dum" trailing at #23,517.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "dum" then splits - "dum" (3 letters) vs "dumb" (4).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across dum, dumb: dmu. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
dum
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory dmu · no private letters vs siblings
dumb
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory bdmu · private b
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "dum" when you mean: cooked with steam
- Write "dumb" when you mean: Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- dumb ← ddumb · dmub · dubm · dumbb · dummb · udmb
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (dum, dumb). Here's where to go from here.
- "dumb" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #2,788 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Darryl · Darrell. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "dum, dumb" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.