durcivsdurcirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,770
“durci” frequency rank
#28,135
“durcir” frequency rank
65905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durci durcir
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe durcir. Rendre dur.

Where the eye mixes durci and durcir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. durci runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against durcir's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
durci
6 ch
durcir

Visual trap between durci and durcir

A purely visual mix-up. durci (\dyʁ.si\) and durcir (\dyʁ.siʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “durci” sits inside “durcir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

durci is recorded at frequency rank #37,770, classified as averb, pronounced \dyʁ.si\. durcir is at rank #28,135, tagged as averb, pronounced \dyʁ.siʁ\.

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 65905, this pair ranks #70,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of durci vs durcir

Shared letters: cdiru. Private to "durci": -. Private to "durcir": -.

"durci" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "durcir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durciddurci · druci · ducri · durcci · duric · durrci · udrci
  • durcirddurcir · drucir · ducrir · durccir · durcirr · durcri · duricr · durrcir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "durci" and "durcir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dyʁ.si\ versus \dyʁ.siʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "durci" or "durcir"?
"durcir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,135 in our French list, against #37,770 for "durci". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "durci" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durcir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "durci" and "durcir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs durci". 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 #70,244 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