Which to use
“dir” is a pronoun and “dirty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,530
- “dir” frequency rank
- #25,281
- “dirty” frequency rank
- 33811
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dir | dirty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Toi : deuxième personne du singulier au datif. | Sale, malpropre (couvert de saleté). |
Where the eye mixes dir and dirty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dir and dirty
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dir is \diːɐ̯\ while dirty is \ˈdɜː.ti\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dir” sits inside “dirty”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dir is recorded at frequency rank #8,530, classified as apron, pronounced \diːɐ̯\. dirty is at rank #25,281, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈdɜː.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 33811, this pair ranks #288,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dir vs dirty
Shared letters: dir. Private to "dir": -. Private to "dirty": ty.
"dir" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dirty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dirty ← ddirty · dirrty · dirtty · dirtyy · diryt · ditry · drity · idrty
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dir" for "dirty" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dir" vs "dirty" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dirty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #288,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dir" and "dirty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dirty vs dray". 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 #288,112 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.