Which to use
“don” is a noun and “dur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,589
- “don” frequency rank
- #940
- “dur” frequency rank
- 2529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | don | dur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’offrir à quelqu’un quelque chose, de lui en abandonner la propriété ou présent qu’on lui fait ainsi. | Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer. |
Where the eye mixes don and dur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between don and dur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: don is \dɔ̃\ while dur is \dyʁ\. 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 2529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
don is recorded at frequency rank #1,589, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔ̃\. 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 2529, this pair ranks #435,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of don vs dur
Shared letters: d. Private to "don": no. Private to "dur": ru.
"don" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "don" and "dur" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "don" vs "dur" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "don" 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 #435,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "don" and "dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs don". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #435,970 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.