Which to use
“del” is an abbrev and “delay” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,719
- “del” frequency rank
- #28,143
- “delay” frequency rank
- 31862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | del | delay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bezeichnung für ∂, ein Symbol für die partielle Ableitung – es ist nicht mit dem kleinen Delta δ zu verwechseln | Aufenthalt |
Letter map: del vs delay
Shared letters muted; letters that set del and delay apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Part-of-speech tell for del / delay
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: del is anabbrev and delayanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “del” sits inside “delay”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
del is recorded at frequency rank #3,719, classified as anabbrev. delay is at rank #28,143, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɪˈleɪ].
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 31862, this pair ranks #1,719,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of del vs delay
Shared letters: del. Private to "del": -. Private to "delay": ay.
"del" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "delay" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- delay ← ddelay · dealy · delayy · dellay · delya · dleay · edlay
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "del" and "delay" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "del" vs "delay" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "del" and "delay". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "del" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,719,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "del" and "delay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déjà vs delay". 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 #1,719,517 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.