Which to use
“dog” is a noun and “dus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,950
- “dog” frequency rank
- #9,817
- “dus” frequency rank
- 21767
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dog | dus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chien (animal), pitou, animal de l'espèce Canis familiaris ou Canis lupus familiaris qui a été domestiqué il y a plusieurs milliers d'années et d’apparence variable du fait de la sélection humaine. | Masculin pluriel de dû. |
Where the eye mixes dog and dus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dog with dus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dog is \ˈdɔɡ\ while dus is \dy\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dog is recorded at frequency rank #11,950, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈdɔɡ\. dus is at rank #9,817, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dy\.
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 21767, this pair ranks #361,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dog vs dus
Shared letters: d. Private to "dog": go. Private to "dus": su.
"dog" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dog" and "dus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dog" or "dus"?
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 "dog" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dog" and "dus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dog". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #361,514 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.