duréesvsdurerWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#20,424
“durées” frequency rank
#4,566
“durer” frequency rank
24990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durées durer
Definition Pluriel de durée. Continuer d’être, se prolonger.

Same sound, different letters: durées vs durer

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. durées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against durer's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
durées
5 ch
durer

Homophone desk: durées vs durer

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: durées and durer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \dy.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

durées is recorded at frequency rank #20,424, classified as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʁe\. 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 24990, this pair ranks #343,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of durées vs durer

Shared letters: deru. Private to "durées": sé. Private to "durer": -.

"durées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "durer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durer ← ddurer · druer · duerr · durerr · durrer · udrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "durées" for "durer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "durées" is a noun and "durer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "durées" 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 #20,424 for "durées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "durées" / "durer". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "durées" 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 #343,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "durées" and "durer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diurnes vs durées". 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 #343,418 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