duraitvsdurasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#28,523
“durait” frequency rank
#23,840
“duras” frequency rank
52363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durait duras
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de durer. Cépage donnant du raisin à petits grains noirs. Il est essentiellement cultivé dans la région de Gaillac.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set durait and duras apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
durait
5 ch
duras

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: durait is \dy.ʁɛ\ while duras is \dy.ʁa\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52363, 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\. 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 52363, this pair ranks #148,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of durait vs duras

Shared letters: adru. Private to "durait": it. Private to "duras": s.

"durait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "duras" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duraitddurait · druait · duarit · duraitt · durati · duriat · durrait · udrait
  • durasdduras · druas · duars · durass · durras · dursa · udras

Frequency comparison

durait#28,523
duras#23,840

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "durait" and "duras" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "durait" is a verb and "duras" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "durait" or "duras"?
"duras" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,840 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.

Remembering durait vs duras

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “durait”; for a noun, it's “duras”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “durait” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list