Which to use
“due” is an adjective and “dun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #442
- “due” frequency rank
- #18,810
- “dun” frequency rank
- 19252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | due | dun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Owed or owing. | A brownish grey colour. |
Where the eye mixes due and dun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: due vs dun
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: due is /djuː/ while dun is /dʌn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “due” becomes n in “dun”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
due is recorded at frequency rank #442, classified as anadj, pronounced /djuː/. dun is at rank #18,810, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dʌn/.
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 19252, this pair ranks #439,453 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of due vs dun
Shared letters: du. Private to "due": e. Private to "dun": n.
"due" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "due" and "dun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "due" or "dun" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "due" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,453 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "due" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dox vs dun". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #439,453 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.