Which to use
“duel” and “dures” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,497
- “duel” frequency rank
- #10,690
- “dures” frequency rank
- 17187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duel | dures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a deux aspects, qui exprime une dualité. | Féminin pluriel de dur. |
Where the eye mixes duel and dures
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses duel with dures
A purely visual mix-up. duel (\dɥɛl\) and dures (\dyʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duel is recorded at frequency rank #6,497, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɥɛl\. dures is at rank #10,690, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dyʁ\.
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 17187, this pair ranks #384,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of duel vs dures
Shared letters: deu. Private to "duel": l. Private to "dures": rs.
"duel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dures" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "duel" and "dures" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "duel" vs "dures" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "duel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duel" and "dures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diurnes vs dures". 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 #384,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.