deuxvsdurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“deux” and “dur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#71
“deux” frequency rank
#940
“dur” frequency rank
1011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deux dur
Definition Un plus un. Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.

Where the eye mixes deux and dur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
deux
3 ch
dur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. deux (\dø\) and dur (\dyʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deux is recorded at frequency rank #71, classified as anadj, pronounced \dø\. 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 1011, this pair ranks #438,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deux vs dur

Shared letters: du. Private to "deux": ex. Private to "dur": r.

"deux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deuxddeux · deuxx · dexu · duex · edux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deux" and "dur" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dø\ versus \dyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deux" or "dur"?
"deux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #71 in our French list, against #940 for "dur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "deux" and "dur". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deux" 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 #438,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deux" and "dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dur". 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

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list