Which to use
“drunk” and “dusk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,439
- “drunk” frequency rank
- #16,221
- “dusk” frequency rank
- 18660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drunk | dusk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages. | Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky. |
Where the eye mixes drunk and dusk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. drunk (/dɹʌŋk/) and dusk (/dʌsk/) 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 18660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drunk is recorded at frequency rank #2,439, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɹʌŋk/. dusk is at rank #16,221, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dʌsk/.
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 18660, this pair ranks #443,379 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of drunk vs dusk
Shared letters: dku. Private to "drunk": nr. Private to "dusk": s.
"drunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "dusk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC