Which to use
“dun” and “duty” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,810
- “dun” frequency rank
- #1,994
- “duty” frequency rank
- 20804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dun | duty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A brownish grey colour. | That which one is morally or legally obligated to do. |
Where the eye mixes dun and duty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dun and duty
A purely visual mix-up. dun (/dʌn/) 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 20804, 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/. 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 20804, this pair ranks #428,541 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dun vs duty
Shared letters: du. Private to "dun": n. Private to "duty": ty.
"dun" · 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 "dun" for "duty" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "dun" or "duty" 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 "duty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,541 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dun" and "duty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dox vs dun". 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 #428,541 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.