Which to use
“dun” is a noun and “dur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,810
- “dun” frequency rank
- #39,793
- “dur” frequency rank
- 58603
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dun | dur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A brownish grey colour. | Major; in the major mode. |
Where the eye mixes dun and dur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dun with dur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dun is /dʌn/ while dur is /duːɹ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “dun” becomes r in “dur”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dun is recorded at frequency rank #18,810, classified as anoun, pronounced /dʌn/. dur is at rank #39,793, tagged as anadj, pronounced /duːɹ/.
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 58603, this pair ranks #111,490 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dun vs dur
Shared letters: du. Private to "dun": n. Private to "dur": r.
"dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dun" and "dur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "dun" or "dur" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,490 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dun" and "dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dox vs dur". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #111,490 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.