drvsdusTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,995
“dr” frequency rank
#9,817
“dus” frequency rank
11812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dr dus
Definition Symbole du drachme (dram), unité de mesure de masse ou de volume anglo-saxonne. Masculin pluriel de dû.

Letter map: dr vs dus

Shared letters muted; letters that set dr and dus apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
dr
3 ch
dus

Role in the sentence - dr and dus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dr is asymbol and dusanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dr is recorded at frequency rank #1,995, classified as asymbol. 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 11812, this pair ranks #407,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dr vs dus

Shared letters: d. Private to "dr": r. Private to "dus": su.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dr" for "dus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dr" is a symbol and "dus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "dr" or "dus" show up more?
"dr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,995 in our French list, against #9,817 for "dus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dr" 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 #407,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dr" and "dus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #407,698 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