Which to use
“de” is a preposition and “dupe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1
- “de” frequency rank
- #18,992
- “dupe” frequency rank
- 18993
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | de | dupe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marque un ablatif. Mot indiquant la provenance, l’origine ^([note 1]). | Celui, celle qui a été trompé, ou qui est facile à tromper. |
Where the eye mixes de and dupe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: de vs dupe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: de is \də\ while dupe is \dyp\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 18993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
de is recorded at frequency rank #1, classified as aprep, pronounced \də\. dupe is at rank #18,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dyp\.
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 18993, this pair ranks #375,570 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of de vs dupe
Shared letters: de. Private to "de": -. Private to "dupe": pu.
"de" · 2 letters · shape CV · "dupe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dupe ← ddupe · dpue · duep · duppe · udpe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "de" and "dupe" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "de" vs "dupe" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "de" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dupe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,570 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "de" and "dupe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dupe vs dust". 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 #375,570 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.