Which to use
“Date” and “duty” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #580
- “Date” frequency rank
- #20,990
- “duty” frequency rank
- 21570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Date | duty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rendez-vous entre deux amoureux. | Devoir. |
Where the eye mixes Date and duty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Date and duty
A purely visual mix-up. Date (\dɛɪ̯t\) and duty (\ˈdju.ti\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Date is recorded at frequency rank #580, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛɪ̯t\. duty is at rank #20,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdju.ti\.
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 21570, this pair ranks #362,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Date vs duty
Shared letters: dt. Private to "Date": ae. Private to "duty": uy.
"Date" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "duty" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Date" and "duty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Date" vs "duty" - which ranks higher?
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 "Date" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #362,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Date" and "duty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dray vs duty". 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 #362,487 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.