Which to use
“dud” and “duty” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,251
- “dud” frequency rank
- #1,994
- “duty” frequency rank
- 31245
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dud | duty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A device or machine that is useless because it does not work properly or has failed to work, such as a bomb, or explosive projectile. | That which one is morally or legally obligated to do. |
Where the eye mixes dud and duty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dud and duty
A purely visual mix-up. dud (/dʌd/) and duty (/ˈdjuː.ti/) 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 31245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dud is recorded at frequency rank #29,251, classified as anoun, pronounced /dʌd/. duty is at rank #1,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdjuː.ti/.
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 31245, this pair ranks #347,784 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dud vs duty
Shared letters: du. Private to "dud": -. Private to "duty": ty.
"dud" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- duty ← dduty · dtuy · dutty · dutyy · duyt · udty
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dud" for "duty" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "dud" or "duty" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dud" and "duty" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,784 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dud" and "duty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dox vs dud". 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 #347,784 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.