deinevsDelfineWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: deine is a unknown, Delfine is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deine” is an unknown and “Delfine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#255
“deine” frequency rank
#31,503
“Delfine” frequency rank
31758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deine Delfine
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum des Possessivpronomens dein Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Delfin

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set deine and Delfine apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
deine
7 ch
Delfine

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deine is [ˈdaɪ̯nə] while Delfine is [dɛlˈfiːnə]. 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 (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deine is recorded at frequency rank #255, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdaɪ̯nə]. Delfine is at rank #31,503, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɛlˈfiːnə].

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 31758, this pair ranks #1,721,669 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deine vs Delfine

Shared letters: dein. Private to "deine": -. Private to "Delfine": fl.

"deine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Delfine" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deineddeine · deien · deinne · denie · edine
  • Delfineddelfine · defline · delffine · delfien · delfinne · delfnie · delifne · dellfine

Frequency comparison

deine#255
Delfine#31,503

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deine" and "Delfine" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deine" is an unknown and "Delfine" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deine" or "Delfine"?
"deine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #255 in our German list, against #31,503 for "Delfine". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering deine vs Delfine

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an unknown, it's “deine”; for a noun, it's “Delfine”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “deine” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list