dunkvsdureConfusable pair

Which to use

“dunk” and “dure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,992
“dunk” frequency rank
#1,912
“dure” frequency rank
46904
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dunk dure
Definition Désigne un smash au jeu de basket. Femme pleine de dureté, insensible ou très sévère.

Where the eye mixes dunk and dure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dunk
4 ch
dure

Visual trap between dunk and dure

A purely visual mix-up. dunk (\dœŋk\) and dure (\dyʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dunk is recorded at frequency rank #44,992, classified as anoun, pronounced \dœŋk\. dure is at rank #1,912, tagged as anoun, 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 46904, this pair ranks #191,129 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dunk vs dure

Shared letters: du. Private to "dunk": kn. Private to "dure": er.

"dunk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dunkddunk · dnuk · dukn · dunkk · dunnk · udnk
  • dureddure · drue · duer · durre · udre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dunk" and "dure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dœŋk\ versus \dyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dunk" vs "dure" - which ranks higher?
"dure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,912 in our French list, against #44,992 for "dunk". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "dunk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,129 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dunk" and "dure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drunk vs dunk". 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 #191,129 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