dud
/dʌd/
"dud" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dud” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #29,251) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #29,251
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - 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.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dud · dud · English
dud · rank #29,251 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #29,251
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH druid
Nearest frequency peer: druid (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “dud”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- dreading
dreading
70,753 corpus weight
- druid
druid
70,751 corpus weight
- dud
dud
70,750 corpus weight
- duvet
duvet
70,749 corpus weight
- eclipsed
eclipsed
70,748 corpus weight
- eject
eject
70,747 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dud” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dud |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dʌd/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #29,251 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dud” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for dud is neighbouring look-alikes ("dw", "Dx", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /dʌd/. Frequency #29,251 among 3,470 “D” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for dud, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dw", "Dx", "DV", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dudde (“cloak, mantle, kind of cloth; ragged clothing or cloth”), from Old English *dudda (attested only as personal name Dudda, part of modern English Dudley), akin to Old Norse dúði (“swaddling clothes”), Low German dudel. Possibly bor… The correct English form is dud, spelled D-U-D.
Definition
- 1A device or machine that is useless because it does not work properly or has failed to work, such as a bomb, or explosive projectile.
- 2A failure of any kind.
- 3A failure of any kind.
- 4A failure of any kind.
- 5Clothes, now always used in plural form duds.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dud appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The only amusing highlight was Gudgeon having managed to exploit U.S. codebreaking efforts to ambush and destroy the submarine I-173, albeit not for the lack of the Mark 14's trying to sabotage the effort, as the torpedo that had hit the sub had refused to detonate; it seemed, however, that the car-crash levels of kinetic energy involved in the dud simply…
Alzheimer's Drug Aduhelm Went From Being Hailed A 'Game Changer' To A Dud
Etymology
From Middle English dudde (“cloak, mantle, kind of cloth; ragged clothing or cloth”), from Old English *dudda (attested only as personal name Dudda, part of modern English Dudley), akin to Old Norse dúði (“swaddling clothes”), Low German dudel. Possibly borrowed from the Old Norse word and related to dýja (“to shake, tremble”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dud", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "dud". Here's where to go from here.
- "dud" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "dw". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #29,251 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.