Which to use
“duc” and “duché” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,118
- “duc” frequency rank
- #9,815
- “duché” frequency rank
- 11933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duc | duché |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Titre qui était le plus élevé parmi l’ancienne noblesse de France et de quelques autres États. | Seigneurie, principauté à laquelle le titre de duc est attaché. |
Where the eye mixes duc and duché
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. duc runs 3 letters (CVC) against duché's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between duc and duché
A purely visual mix-up. duc (\dyk\) and duché (\dy.ʃe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “duc” sits inside “duché”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duc is recorded at frequency rank #2,118, classified as anoun, pronounced \dyk\. duché is at rank #9,815, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʃe\.
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 11933, this pair ranks #407,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of duc vs duché
Shared letters: cdu. Private to "duc": -. Private to "duché": hé.
"duc" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "duché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "duc" for "duché" ever safe?
Which is more common, "duc" or "duché"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "duc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duché" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #407,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duc" and "duché" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs duché". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #407,210 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.