drvsdurTell them apart

Quick tell: dr is a symbol, dur is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dr” is a symbol and “dur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,995
“dr” frequency rank
#940
“dur” frequency rank
2935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dr dur
Definition Symbole du drachme (dram), unité de mesure de masse ou de volume anglo-saxonne. Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.

Letter map: dr vs dur

Shared letters muted; letters that set dr and dur apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch
dr
3 ch
dur

Role in the sentence - dr and dur

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dr is asymbol and duranadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dr is recorded at frequency rank #1,995, classified as asymbol. 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 2935, this pair ranks #435,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dr vs dur

Shared letters: dr. Private to "dr": -. Private to "dur": u.

"dr" · 2 letters · shape CC  ·  "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dr" and "dur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dr" is a symbol and "dur" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dr" vs "dur" - which ranks higher?
"dur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #940 in our French list, against #1,995 for "dr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "dr" and "dur". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dr" 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 #435,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dr" and "dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dr vs dray". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #435,161 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