DUI
/ˌdiː.juːˈaɪ/
"dui" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“DUI” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #18,294) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #18,294
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of driving under the influence [of alcohol or other drugs]: the act of doing so; a charge or conviction for that act.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dui · DUI · English
DUI · rank #18,294 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #18,294
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH dreaded
Nearest frequency peer: dreaded (-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 “DUI”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- deli
deli
81,711 corpus weight
- distinguish…
distinguishing
81,709 corpus weight
- dreaded
dreaded
81,708 corpus weight
- DUI
DUI
81,707 corpus weight
- dumps
dumps
81,706 corpus weight
- dyer
dyer
81,704 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “DUI” 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 | DUI |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdiː.juːˈaɪ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #18,294 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “DUI” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for DUI is neighbouring look-alikes ("dw", "Dx", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˌdiː.juːˈaɪ/. Frequency #18,294 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Gloss: "Initialism of driving under the influence [of alcohol or other drugs]: the act of doing so; a charge or conviction for that act.".
DUI doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. 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.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is DUI, spelled D-U-I.
Definition
- 1Initialism of driving under the influence [of alcohol or other drugs]: the act of doing so; a charge or conviction for that act.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how DUI appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
DUI is punishable by jail time and by fines.
They hit him with DUI and gross negligence.
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 "DUI", 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 "DUI". Here's where to go from here.
- "DUI" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "dw". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #18,294 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.