duke vs dun, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“duke” and “dun” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,667
“duke” frequency rank: #45,320
“dun” frequency rank: 54987
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	duke	dun
Definition	duque	penugem imatura em pássaros jovens

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set duke and dun apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

duke

3 ch

dun

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. duke (/djuːk/; /dʒuːk/) and dun (/duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duke is recorded at frequency rank #9,667, classified as anoun, pronounced /djuːk/; /dʒuːk/. dun is at rank #45,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn].

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 54987, this pair ranks #10,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of duke vs dun

Shared letters: du. Private to "duke": ek. Private to "dun": n.

"duke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

duke ← dduke · dkue · duek · dukke · udke

Frequency comparison

duke#9,667

dun#45,320

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "duke" and "dun" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/djuːk/; /dʒuːk/ versus /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "duke" or "dun"?

"duke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,667 in our Portuguese list, against #45,320 for "dun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering duke vs dun

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “duke” entry
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