Which to use
“degli” is a preposition and “delle” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,845
- “degli” frequency rank
- #19,865
- “delle” frequency rank
- 65710
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | degli | delle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Verschmelzung der Präposition di mit dem bestimmten Artikel gli | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dellen |
Where the eye mixes degli and delle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. degli and delle follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between degli and delle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: degli is [ˈdeʎʎi] while delle is [ˈdɛlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
degli is recorded at frequency rank #45,845, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈdeʎʎi]. delle is at rank #19,865, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɛlə].
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 65710, this pair ranks #597,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of degli vs delle
Shared letters: del. Private to "degli": gi. Private to "delle": -.
"degli" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "delle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "degli" for "delle" ever safe?
Frequency check: "degli" vs "delle" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "degli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #597,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "degli" and "delle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degli vs demi". 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 #597,680 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.