Which to use
“du” is a pronoun and “duda” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,609
- “du” frequency rank
- #656
- “duda” frequency rank
- 6265
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | du | duda |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tú (pronombre de segunda persona singular familiar o informal) | Acción o efecto de dudar. Dificultad para elegir entre dos o más opciones, o suspensión de tal decisión. |
Where the eye mixes du and duda
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between du and duda
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: du is [duː] while duda is [ˈd̪uð̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “du” sits inside “duda”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
du is recorded at frequency rank #5,609, classified as apron, pronounced [duː]. duda is at rank #656, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪uð̞a].
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 6265, this pair ranks #311,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of du vs duda
Shared letters: du. Private to "du": -. Private to "duda": a.
"du" · 2 letters · shape CV · "duda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- duda ← ddua · dduda · duad · dudda · udda
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "du" and "duda" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "du" or "duda" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "du" and "duda" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "du" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #311,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "du" and "duda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deux vs du". 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 #311,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.