Which to use
“dur” is an adjective and “dz” is a character - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #940
- “dur” frequency rank
- #47,847
- “dz” frequency rank
- 48787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dur | dz |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer. | Lettre de l’alphabet hongrois entre le d et le dzs, utilisée pour \dz\. |
Where the eye mixes dur and dz
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between dur and dz
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dur is \dyʁ\ while dz is \dzeː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs character), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dur is recorded at frequency rank #940, classified as anadj, pronounced \dyʁ\. dz is at rank #47,847, tagged as acharacter, pronounced \dzeː\.
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 48787, this pair ranks #176,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dur vs dz
Shared letters: d. Private to "dur": ru. Private to "dz": z.
"dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dz" · 2 letters · shape CC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dur" for "dz" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dur" or "dz"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dur" and "dz" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dur" and "dz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dz". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #176,054 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.