dryvsdusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dry” and “dus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,733
“dry” frequency rank
#9,817
“dus” frequency rank
39550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dry dus
Definition Sec. Masculin pluriel de dû.

Where the eye mixes dry and dus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
dry
3 ch
dus

Look-alike desk: dry vs dus

A purely visual mix-up. dry (\dʁaj\) and dus (\dy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dry is recorded at frequency rank #29,733, classified as anadj, pronounced \dʁaj\. 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 39550, this pair ranks #247,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dry vs dus

Shared letters: d. Private to "dry": ry. Private to "dus": su.

"dry" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "dus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dry" and "dus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dʁaj\ versus \dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dry" vs "dus" - which ranks higher?
"dus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,817 in our French list, against #29,733 for "dry". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "dry" and "dus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dry" 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 #247,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dry" and "dus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dray vs dry". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #247,135 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