dekovsdelTell them apart

Quick tell: deko is a noun, del is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deko” is a noun and “del” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,775
“deko” frequency rank
#3,719
“del” frequency rank
18494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deko del
Definition Gewichtseinheit; Kurzform für Dekagramm Bezeichnung für ∂, ein Symbol für die partielle Ableitung – es ist nicht mit dem kleinen Delta δ zu verwechseln

Letter map: deko vs del

Shared letters muted; letters that set deko and del apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
deko
3 ch
del

Grammar separator: deko vs del

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: deko is anoun and delanabbrev. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deko is recorded at frequency rank #14,775, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɛkɔ]. del is at rank #3,719, tagged as anabbrev.

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 18494, this pair ranks #1,917,665 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deko vs del

Shared letters: de. Private to "deko": ko. Private to "del": l.

"deko" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "del" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dekoddeko · dekko · deok · dkeo · edko

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deko" and "del" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deko" is a noun and "del" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "deko" or "del" show up more?
"del" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,719 in our German list, against #14,775 for "deko". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "deko" vs "del" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deko" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "del" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,917,665 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deko" and "del" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deko vs dess". 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 #1,917,665 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