Which to use
“den” is a noun and “due” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,004
- “den” frequency rank
- #442
- “due” frequency rank
- 7446
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | den | due |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment. | Owed or owing. |
Where the eye mixes den and due
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: den vs due
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: den is /dɛn/ while due is /djuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
den is recorded at frequency rank #7,004, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛn/. due is at rank #442, tagged as anadj, pronounced /djuː/.
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 7446, this pair ranks #507,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of den vs due
Shared letters: de. Private to "den": n. Private to "due": u.
"den" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "due" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "den" and "due" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "den" vs "due" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "den" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "due" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #507,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "den" and "due" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "den vs dox". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #507,072 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.