Which to use
“de” is a preposition and “duo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1
- “de” frequency rank
- #3,839
- “duo” frequency rank
- 3840
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | de | duo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marque un ablatif. Mot indiquant la provenance, l’origine ^([note 1]). | Morceau de musique fait pour être chanté par deux voix ou exécuté par deux instruments. |
Where the eye mixes de and duo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: de vs duo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: de is \də\ while duo is \dɥɔ\. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
de is recorded at frequency rank #1, classified as aprep, pronounced \də\. duo is at rank #3,839, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɥɔ\.
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 3840, this pair ranks #433,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of de vs duo
Shared letters: d. Private to "de": e. Private to "duo": ou.
"de" · 2 letters · shape CV · "duo" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "de" and "duo" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "de" or "duo" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "de" and "duo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "de" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "de" and "duo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs duo". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #433,092 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.