Français homophones

dur/dure/durent/dures/durs

"dur" is an adjective; "dure" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "dur" arrives as an adjective, while "dure" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "dur" then splits - "dur" (3 letters) vs "dure" (4).
Shared stem "dur" then splits - "dur" (3 letters) vs "durent" (6).
Shared stem "dur" then splits - "dur" (3 letters) vs "dures" (5).
Shared stem "dur" then splits - "dur" (3 letters) vs "durs" (4).
Shared stem "dure" then splits - "dure" (4 letters) vs "durent" (6).
Shared stem "dure" then splits - "dure" (4 letters) vs "dures" (5).
Single-letter fork: "dure" keeps e, "durs" writes s at letter 4.
Shared stem "dure" then splits - "durent" (6 letters) vs "dures" (5).
Shared stem "dur" then splits - "durent" (6 letters) vs "durs" (4).
Shared stem "dur" then splits - "dures" (5 letters) vs "durs" (4).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across dur, dure, durent, dures, durs: dru. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

dur
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory dru · no private letters vs siblings
dure
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCV
Inventory deru · private e
durent
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVCC
Inventory denrtu · private ent
dures
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory dersu · private es
durs
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory drsu · private s

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "dur" when you mean: Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.
Write "dure" when you mean: Femme pleine de dureté, insensible ou très sévère.
Write "durent" when you mean: Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple du verbe devoir.
Write "dures" when you mean: Féminin pluriel de dur.
Write "durs" when you mean: Le bagne.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

dure ← ddure · drue · duer · durre · udre
durent ← ddurent · druent · duernt · durennt · durentt · duretn
dures ← ddures · drues · duers · duress · durres · durse
durs ← ddurs · drus · durrs · durss · dusr · udrs

Each spelling

dur

adjective · /\dyʁ\/ · #940 frequency

Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.

dure

noun · /\dyʁ\/ · #1,912 frequency

Femme pleine de dureté, insensible ou très sévère.

durent

verb · /\dyʁ\/ · #9,816 frequency

Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple du verbe devoir.

dures

adjective · /\dyʁ\/ · #10,690 frequency

Féminin pluriel de dur.

durs

noun · /\dyʁ\/ · #6,699 frequency

Le bagne.