drunkvsduckWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: drunk is a adjective, duck is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#49,033
“drunk” frequency rank
#25,624
“duck” frequency rank
74657
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature drunk duck
Definition Ivre, saoul. Toile épaisse et résistante utilisée pour des bâches, de tentes, des voiles, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
drunk
4 ch
duck

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

drunk and duck form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

drunk is recorded at frequency rank #49,033, classified as anadj, pronounced \drʌŋk\. duck is at rank #25,624, tagged as anoun.

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 74657, this pair ranks #36,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Frequency comparison

drunk#49,033
duck#25,624

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "drunk" and "duck" be used interchangeably?
No, "drunk" and "duck" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering drunk vs duck

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “drunk”; for a noun, it's “duck”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “drunk” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list