duavsdupTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,094
“dua” frequency rank
#28,177
“dup” frequency rank
69271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dua dup
Definition Alternative spelling of du'a'. to open (a door, gate etc.)

Letter map: dua vs dup

Shared letters muted; letters that set dua and dup apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
dua
3 ch
dup

Role in the sentence - dua and dup

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dua is anoun and dupaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “dua” becomes p in “dup”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dua is recorded at frequency rank #41,094, classified as anoun. dup is at rank #28,177, tagged as averb, pronounced /dʌp/.

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 69271, this pair ranks #55,296 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dua vs dup

Shared letters: du. Private to "dua": a. Private to "dup": p.

"dua" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "dup" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dua" for "dup" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dua" is a noun and "dup" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "dua" or "dup" show up more?
"dup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,177 in our English list, against #41,094 for "dua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "dua" and "dup". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,296 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dua" and "dup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dox vs dua". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,296 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