dour vs dur, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dour” and “dur” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,880
“dour” frequency rank: #39,793
“dur” frequency rank: 89673
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dour	dur
Definition	Stern, harsh and forbidding.	Major; in the major mode.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dour and dur apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

dour

3 ch

dur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dour (/ˈdʊə/) and dur (/duːɹ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dour is recorded at frequency rank #49,880, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdʊə/. dur is at rank #39,793, tagged as anadj, pronounced /duːɹ/.

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 89673, this pair ranks #4,939 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dour vs dur

Shared letters: dru. Private to "dour": o. Private to "dur": -.

"dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

dour ← ddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur

Frequency comparison

dour#49,880

dur#39,793

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dour" and "dur" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈdʊə/ versus /duːɹ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "dour" or "dur"?

"dur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,793 in our English list, against #49,880 for "dour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dour vs dur

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dour” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable