Which to use
“duck” and “dug” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,031
- “duck” frequency rank
- #8,784
- “dug” frequency rank
- 13815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duck | dug |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something. | simple past and past participle of dig (replacing earlier digged) |
Where the eye mixes duck and dug
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses duck with dug
A purely visual mix-up. duck (/dʌk/) and dug (/dʌɡ/) 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 13815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duck is recorded at frequency rank #5,031, classified as averb, pronounced /dʌk/. dug is at rank #8,784, tagged as averb, pronounced /dʌɡ/.
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 13815, this pair ranks #473,673 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of duck vs dug
Shared letters: du. Private to "duck": ck. Private to "dug": g.
"duck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dug" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- duck ← dcuk · dduck · ducck · duckk · dukc · udck
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "duck" and "dug" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "duck" or "dug"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "duck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #473,673 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duck" and "dug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dox vs dug". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #473,673 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.