Which to use
“duds” is a noun and “dug” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,792
- “duds” frequency rank
- #8,784
- “dug” frequency rank
- 48576
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duds | dug |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dud | simple past and past participle of dig (replacing earlier digged) |
Where the eye mixes duds and dug
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: duds vs dug
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: duds is /dʌdz/ while dug is /dʌɡ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duds is recorded at frequency rank #39,792, classified as anoun, pronounced /dʌdz/. 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 48576, this pair ranks #191,726 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of duds vs dug
Shared letters: du. Private to "duds": s. Private to "dug": g.
"duds" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dug" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- duds ← dduds · ddus · dudds · dudss · dusd · udds
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "duds" and "dug" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "duds" vs "dug" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "duds" 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 #191,726 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duds" and "dug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dabs vs duds". 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 #191,726 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.