duh
/dɜː/
"duh" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“duh” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #12,961) as an interjection. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #12,961
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A disdainful indication that something is obvious.
Corpus desk
Index EN-duh · duh · English
duh · rank #12,961 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,961
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH Dundee
Nearest frequency peer: Dundee (+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 neighbours of confusable “duh”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- dexter
dexter
87,044 corpus weight
- disappearing
disappearing
87,043 corpus weight
- duh
duh
87,040 corpus weight
- Dundee
Dundee
87,039 corpus weight
- Elaine
Elaine
87,038 corpus weight
- electrons
electrons
87,037 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “duh” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | duh |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /dɜː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #12,961 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “duh”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for duh is neighbouring look-alikes ("dw", "Dx", …), not just typos; it is aninterjection pronounced /dɜː/. Frequency #12,961 among 3,470 “D” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
duh doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dw", "Dx", "DV", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Imitative, indicating stupidity by mocking the speech of an intellectually disabled person. The correct English form is duh, spelled D-U-H.
Definition
- 1A disdainful indication that something is obvious.
- 2An indication of mock stupidity.
- 3A nonsensical utterance by an individual about to go unconscious, especially if they're dizzy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how duh appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It's hot in the desert. - Well, duh!
Duhhh, I'm Jasmine, I can't even tie my shoe laces right!
Etymology
Imitative, indicating stupidity by mocking the speech of an intellectually disabled person.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "duh", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).