duckvsdueWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,624
“duck” frequency rank
#3,838
“due” frequency rank
29462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duck due
Definition Toile épaisse et résistante utilisée pour des bâches, de tentes, des voiles, etc. Féminin singulier de dû.

Letter map: duck vs due

Shared letters muted; letters that set duck and due apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
duck
3 ch
due

Grammar separator: duck vs due

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: duck is anoun and dueanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duck is recorded at frequency rank #25,624, classified as anoun. 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 29462, this pair ranks #316,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of duck vs due

Shared letters: du. Private to "duck": ck. Private to "due": e.

"duck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "due" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duckdcuk · dduck · ducck · duckk · dukc · udck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "duck" for "due" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "duck" is a noun and "due" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "duck" or "due" show up more?
"due" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,838 in our French list, against #25,624 for "duck". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "duck" and "due". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "due" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #316,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duck" and "due" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drunk vs duck". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #316,516 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