dobvsducTell them apart

Quick tell: dob is a verb, duc is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dob” is a verb and “duc” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,170
“dob” frequency rank
#36,966
“duc” frequency rank
81136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dob duc
Definition To report a person to someone in authority for a wrongdoing. (For transitive forms see dob in, dob on.) A French duke.

Letter map: dob vs duc

Shared letters muted; letters that set dob and duc apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. dob and duc follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
dob
3 ch
duc

Grammar separator: dob vs duc

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dob is averb and ducanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dob is recorded at frequency rank #44,170, classified as averb, pronounced /dɑb/. duc is at rank #36,966, tagged as anoun.

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 81136, this pair ranks #18,319 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dob vs duc

Shared letters: d. Private to "dob": bo. Private to "duc": cu.

"dob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "duc" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dob" for "duc" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dob" is a verb and "duc" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dob" vs "duc" - which ranks higher?
"duc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,966 in our English list, against #44,170 for "dob". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dob" and "duc".

  • Full dictionary entry for "dob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,319 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dob" and "duc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dob vs dox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #18,319 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list