dudavsDuránTell them apart

Quick tell: duda is a noun, Durán is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“duda” is a noun and “Durán” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#656
“duda” frequency rank
#12,140
“Durán” frequency rank
12796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duda Durán
Definition Acción o efecto de dudar. Dificultad para elegir entre dos o más opciones, o suspensión de tal decisión. Apellido

Where the eye mixes duda and Durán

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. duda runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Durán's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
duda
5 ch
Durán

Why the eye confuses duda with Durán

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: duda is [ˈd̪uð̞a] while Durán is [d̪uˈɾãn]. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duda is recorded at frequency rank #656, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪uð̞a]. Durán is at rank #12,140, tagged as aname, pronounced [d̪uˈɾãn].

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 12796, this pair ranks #290,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of duda vs Durán

Shared letters: du. Private to "duda": a. Private to "Durán": nrá.

"duda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Durán" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duda ← ddua · dduda · duad · dudda · udda

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "duda" and "Durán" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "duda" is a noun and "Durán" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "duda" or "Durán" show up more?
"duda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #656 in our Spanish list, against #12,140 for "Durán". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Durán" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #290,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duda" and "Durán" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Durán vs durando". 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 #290,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list