Which to use
“ducks” and “duct” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,277
- “ducks” frequency rank
- #13,330
- “duct” frequency rank
- 21607
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ducks | duct |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of duck | A pipe, tube or canal which carries gas or liquid from one place to another. |
Where the eye mixes ducks and duct
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ducks vs duct
A purely visual mix-up. ducks (/dʌks/) and duct (/dʌkt/) 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 21607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ducks is recorded at frequency rank #8,277, classified as anoun, pronounced /dʌks/. duct is at rank #13,330, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dʌkt/.
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 21607, this pair ranks #422,665 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ducks vs duct
Shared letters: cdu. Private to "ducks": ks. Private to "duct": t.
"ducks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "duct" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ducks" and "duct" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ducks" or "duct"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ducks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duct" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,665 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ducks" and "duct" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCC vs duct". 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 #422,665 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.