detvsdutyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: det is a pronoun, duty is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“det” is a pronoun and “duty” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,459
“det” frequency rank
#25,611
“duty” frequency rank
61070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature det duty
Definition Él, ella, ello. Caso nominativo, acusativo y dativo del pronombre personal de tercera persona singular de género neutro. Deber, obligación.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set det and duty apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
det
4 ch
duty

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: det is [də(t)] while duty is /ˈdjuː.ti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

det is recorded at frequency rank #35,459, classified as apron, pronounced [də(t)]. duty is at rank #25,611, 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 61070, this pair ranks #56,737 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of det vs duty

Shared letters: dt. Private to "det": e. Private to "duty": uy.

"det" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dutydduty · dtuy · dutty · dutyy · duyt · udty

Frequency comparison

det#35,459
duty#25,611

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "det" and "duty" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "det" is a pronoun and "duty" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "det" or "duty"?
"duty" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,611 in our Spanish list, against #35,459 for "det". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering det vs duty

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “det”; for a noun, it's “duty”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “det” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list