dun vs duty, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#45,320
“dun” frequency rank: #24,304
“duty” frequency rank: 69624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dun	duty
Definition	penugem imatura em pássaros jovens	dever; obrigação

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

dun

4 ch

duty

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dun (/duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]) and duty (/ˈdjuːti/ (UK); /duːti/ (US)) 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 69624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dun is recorded at frequency rank #45,320, classified as anoun, pronounced /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]. duty is at rank #24,304, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdjuːti/ (UK); /duːti/ (US).

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 69624, this pair ranks #3,891 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dun vs duty

Shared letters: du. Private to "dun": n. Private to "duty": ty.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

duty ← dduty · dtuy · dutty · dutyy · duyt · udty

Frequency comparison

dun#45,320

duty#24,304

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"duty" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,304 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 dun vs duty

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 “dun” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable