durcivsdurerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,770
“durci” frequency rank
#4,566
“durer” frequency rank
42336
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durci durer
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe durcir. Continuer d’être, se prolonger.

Where the eye mixes durci and durer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. durci (CVCCV) and durer (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
durci
5 ch
durer

Look-alike desk: durci vs durer

A purely visual mix-up. durci (\dyʁ.si\) and durer (\dy.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42336, 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\. durer is at rank #4,566, tagged as averb, pronounced \dy.ʁe\.

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 42336, this pair ranks #226,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of durci vs durer

Shared letters: dru. Private to "durci": ci. Private to "durer": e.

"durci" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "durer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durci ← ddurci · druci · ducri · durcci · duric · durrci · udrci
  • durer ← ddurer · druer · duerr · durerr · durrer · udrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "durci" and "durer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dyʁ.si\ versus \dy.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "durci" vs "durer" - which ranks higher?
"durer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,566 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "durci" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "durci" and "durer" 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 #226,380 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