Which to use
“du” is an article and “due” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17
- “du” frequency rank
- #3,838
- “due” frequency rank
- 3855
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | du | due |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Une quantité indéfinie de. Note d’usage : Utilisé avec un nom indénombrable. | Féminin singulier de dû. |
Same sound, different letters: du vs due
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: du and due carry the same recorded pronunciation, \dy\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anarticle, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “du” sits inside “due”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
du is recorded at frequency rank #17, classified as anarticle, pronounced \dy\. due is at rank #3,838, 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 3855, this pair ranks #433,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of du vs due
Shared letters: du. Private to "du": -. Private to "due": e.
"du" · 2 letters · shape CV · "due" · 3 letters · shape CVV