dure

\dyʁ\

/\dyʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“dure” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,912. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,912
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Femme pleine de dureté, insensible ou très sévère.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dure · dure · French

dure · rank #1,912 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,912
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH difficultés

Nearest frequency peer: difficultés (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “dure”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “dure” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dure vs dus
50% similar
dure vs durs
75% similar
dure vs duty
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dure
PropertyValue
Headworddure
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\dyʁ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,912
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “dure” se place dans la fréquence du français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).durese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « difficultés » (#1,911), « devraient » (#1,910), « efficace » (#1,914). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around dure (IPA \dyʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,912 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for dure, with forms such as "ddure", "drue", and "duer". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dus", "durs", "duty", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is dure, spelled D-U-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femme pleine de dureté, insensible ou très sévère.
  2. 2
    Surface ferme du sol ; terre non aménagement ou plancher, à l’intérieur.
  3. 3
    Agression à main armée.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dure appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nous organiserons des armées citoyennes, nous apprendrons l’exercice à nos petits garçons, nous trouverons bon que nos jeunes gens soient tous soldats au besoin, qu’ils sachent faire des étapes et coucher sur la dure, obéir et commander.
  2. Pour remèdier à cette incommodité & rendre mon coucher moins dure, je m'aviſai de caſſer une grande quantité de branches d'Ifs, dont les Forêts du Canada ſont remplies & j'en fis un lit; ce qui apprêtoit à rire à mes Sauvages qui me regardoient,en me diſant d'un ton badin: Que les François ſont comme des Femmes qui ne peuvent coucher ſur la Dure.,

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddure
  • drue
  • duer
  • durre
  • udre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dure - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ddure1drue2duer2durre1udre2
Edit distance from "dure"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dure"?
"dure" is spelled D-U-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \dyʁ\.
What does "dure" mean?
As a noun, "dure" means: Femme pleine de dureté, insensible ou très sévère.
What words are commonly confused with "dure"?
"dure" is commonly confused with "dus", "durs", "duty". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dure"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dure" is \dyʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dure" come from?
"dure" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dure", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

What to do next

You've looked up "dure". Here's where to go from here.

  • "dure" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "dus". View pair
  • 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #1,912 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list