DrsvsduresWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Drs is a noun, dures is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Drs” is a noun and “dures” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,556
“Drs” frequency rank
#10,690
“dures” frequency rank
56246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Drs dures
Definition Pluriel de Dr ou Dʳ. Féminin pluriel de dur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Drs and dures apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
Drs
5 ch
dures

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Drs is \dɔk.tœʁ\ while dures is \dyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Drs is recorded at frequency rank #45,556, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔk.tœʁ\. dures is at rank #10,690, 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 56246, this pair ranks #122,298 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Drs vs dures

Shared letters: drs. Private to "Drs": -. Private to "dures": eu.

"Drs" · 3 letters · shape CCC  ·  "dures" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duresddures · drues · duers · duress · durres · durse · udres

Frequency comparison

Drs#45,556
dures#10,690

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Drs" and "dures" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Drs" is a noun and "dures" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Drs" or "dures"?
"dures" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,690 in our French list, against #45,556 for "Drs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Drs vs dures

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Drs”; for an adjective, it's “dures”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Drs” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list