dumavsdurarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“duma” and “durar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,714
“duma” frequency rank
#7,417
“durar” frequency rank
47131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duma durar
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de dumir. Continuar siendo, seguir existiendo, mantenerse en el mismo estado, permanecer en la misma situación, desarrollarse en el tiempo.

Where the eye mixes duma and durar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. duma runs 4 letters (CVCV) against durar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
duma
5 ch
durar

Visual trap between duma and durar

A purely visual mix-up. duma ([ˈd̪uma]) and durar ([d̪uˈɾaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duma is recorded at frequency rank #39,714, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪uma]. durar is at rank #7,417, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪uˈɾaɾ].

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 47131, this pair ranks #121,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of duma vs durar

Shared letters: adu. Private to "duma": m. Private to "durar": r.

"duma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "durar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duma ← dduma · dmua · duam · dumma · udma
  • durar ← ddurar · druar · duarr · durarr · durrar · udrar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "duma" for "durar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪uma] versus [d̪uˈɾaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "duma" vs "durar" - which ranks higher?
"durar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,417 in our Spanish list, against #39,714 for "duma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duma" and "durar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Deva vs duma". 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 #121,746 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