deinvsDelfinTell them apart

Quick tell: dein is a pronoun, Delfin is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dein” is a pronoun and “Delfin” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#316
“dein” frequency rank
#36,872
“Delfin” frequency rank
37188
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dein Delfin
Definition Form des Possessivpronomens „dein, deine, dein“: Zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu einer dem Sprecher direkt gegenüberstehenden Person, Sache an zu den Zahnwalen gehörendes, in Schulen lebendes, meist fischfressendes Meeressäugetier mit torpedoförmigem Körper, langgezogenem Schnabel und kegelförmigen Zähnen

Where the eye mixes dein and Delfin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dein
6 ch
Delfin

Visual trap between dein and Delfin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dein is [daɪ̯n] while Delfin is [dɛlˈfiːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dein is recorded at frequency rank #316, classified as apron, pronounced [daɪ̯n]. Delfin is at rank #36,872, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɛlˈfiːn].

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 37188, this pair ranks #1,596,610 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dein vs Delfin

Shared letters: dein. Private to "dein": -. Private to "Delfin": fl.

"dein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Delfin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deinddein · deinn · deni · dien · edin
  • Delfinddelfin · deflin · delffin · delfinn · delfni · delifn · dellfin · dlefin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dein" for "Delfin" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dein" is a pronoun and "Delfin" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dein" or "Delfin" show up more?
"dein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #316 in our German list, against #36,872 for "Delfin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "dein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Delfin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,596,610 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dein" and "Delfin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Delfin vs Delphin". 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 #1,596,610 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list