Which to use
“dur” is an adjective and “duras” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #940
- “dur” frequency rank
- #23,840
- “duras” frequency rank
- 24780
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dur | duras |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer. | Cépage donnant du raisin à petits grains noirs. Il est essentiellement cultivé dans la région de Gaillac. |
Where the eye mixes dur and duras
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dur vs duras
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dur is \dyʁ\ while duras is \dy.ʁa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dur” sits inside “duras”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dur is recorded at frequency rank #940, classified as anadj, pronounced \dyʁ\. duras is at rank #23,840, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʁa\.
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 24780, this pair ranks #344,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dur vs duras
Shared letters: dru. Private to "dur": -. Private to "duras": as.
"dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "duras" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- duras ← dduras · druas · duars · durass · durras · dursa · udras
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dur" for "duras" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dur" vs "duras" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duras" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dur" and "duras" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dray vs duras". 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 #344,655 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.