docksvsducksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,619
“docks” frequency rank
#34,503
“ducks” frequency rank
60122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature docks ducks
Definition Pluriel de dock. Pluriel de duck.

Where the eye mixes docks and ducks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
docks
5 ch
ducks

Look-alike desk: docks vs ducks

A purely visual mix-up. docks (\dɔk\) and ducks (\ˈdʌks\) 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 a single letter - o in “docks” becomes u in “ducks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

docks is recorded at frequency rank #25,619, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔk\. ducks is at rank #34,503, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdʌks\.

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 60122, this pair ranks #99,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of docks vs ducks

Shared letters: cdks. Private to "docks": o. Private to "ducks": u.

"docks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "ducks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docksdcoks · ddocks · doccks · dockks · dockss · docsk · dokcs · odcks
  • ducksdcuks · dducks · duccks · duckks · duckss · ducsk · dukcs · udcks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "docks" for "ducks" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\dɔk\ versus \ˈdʌks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "docks" or "ducks" show up more?
"docks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,619 in our French list, against #34,503 for "ducks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "docks" and "ducks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "docks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ducks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "docks" and "ducks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ducks vs ducon". 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 #99,350 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list