docsvsducksWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,314
“docs” frequency rank
#34,503
“ducks” frequency rank
63817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature docs ducks
Definition Pluriel de doc. Pluriel de duck.

Where the eye mixes docs and ducks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
docs
5 ch
ducks

Visual trap between docs and ducks

A purely visual mix-up. docs (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

docs is recorded at frequency rank #29,314, 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 63817, this pair ranks #80,063 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of docs vs ducks

Shared letters: cds. Private to "docs": o. Private to "ducks": ku.

"docs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "ducks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docsdcos · ddocs · doccs · docss · dosc · odcs
  • ducksdcuks · dducks · duccks · duckks · duckss · ducsk · dukcs · udcks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "docs" 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.
Frequency check: "docs" vs "ducks" - which ranks higher?
"docs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,314 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.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "docs" 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 #80,063 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "docs" 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 #80,063 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