Which to use
“den” is an article and “dur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,639
- “den” frequency rank
- #940
- “dur” frequency rank
- 10579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | den | dur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Accusatif masculin singulier de der. | Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer. |
Where the eye mixes den and dur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: den vs dur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: den is \deːn\ while dur is \dyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
den is recorded at frequency rank #9,639, classified as anarticle, pronounced \deːn\. dur is at rank #940, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dyʁ\.
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 10579, this pair ranks #412,436 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of den vs dur
Shared letters: d. Private to "den": en. Private to "dur": ru.
"den" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "den" and "dur" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "den" vs "dur" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "den" and "dur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "den" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,436 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "den" and "dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "den vs denim". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #412,436 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.