Which to use
“duel” and “dus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,497
- “duel” frequency rank
- #9,817
- “dus” frequency rank
- 16314
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duel | dus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a deux aspects, qui exprime une dualité. | Masculin pluriel de dû. |
Where the eye mixes duel and dus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses duel with dus
A purely visual mix-up. duel (\dɥɛl\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16314, 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\. 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 16314, this pair ranks #388,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of duel vs dus
Shared letters: du. Private to "duel": el. Private to "dus": s.
"duel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- duel ← dduel · deul · duell · dule · udel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "duel" for "dus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "duel" or "dus"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "duel" 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 #388,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duel" and "dus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dus". 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 #388,391 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.