duraitvsDurandConfusable pair

Quick tell: durait is a verb, Durand is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“durait” is a verb and “Durand” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,523
“durait” frequency rank
#12,360
“Durand” frequency rank
40883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durait Durand
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de durer. Nom de famille.

Where the eye mixes durait and Durand

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. durait (CVCVVC) and Durand (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
durait
6 ch
Durand

Visual trap between durait and Durand

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: durait is \dy.ʁɛ\ while Durand is \dy.ʁɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

durait is recorded at frequency rank #28,523, classified as averb, pronounced \dy.ʁɛ\. Durand is at rank #12,360, tagged as aname, pronounced \dy.ʁɑ̃\.

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 40883, this pair ranks #237,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of durait vs Durand

Shared letters: adru. Private to "durait": it. Private to "Durand": n.

"durait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "Durand" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duraitddurait · druait · duarit · duraitt · durati · duriat · durrait · udrait
  • Durandddurand · druand · duarnd · duradn · durandd · durannd · durnad · durrand

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "durait" for "Durand" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "durait" is a verb and "Durand" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "durait" vs "Durand" - which ranks higher?
"Durand" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,360 in our French list, against #28,523 for "durait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "durait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Durand" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #237,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "durait" and "Durand" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "durait vs durerait". 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 #237,195 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