Which to use
“dues” and “dur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,532
- “dues” frequency rank
- #940
- “dur” frequency rank
- 9472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dues | dur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de dû. | Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer. |
Where the eye mixes dues and dur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dues vs dur
A purely visual mix-up. dues (\dy\) and dur (\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 9472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dues is recorded at frequency rank #8,532, classified as anadj, pronounced \dy\. dur is at rank #940, 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 9472, this pair ranks #416,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dues vs dur
Shared letters: du. Private to "dues": es. Private to "dur": r.
"dues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dues ← ddues · duess · duse · udes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dues" for "dur" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dues" or "dur"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dues" and "dur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dues" and "dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dues vs dust". 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 #416,516 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.