Which to use
“delay” and “dolby” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,143
- “delay” frequency rank
- #44,530
- “dolby” frequency rank
- 72673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delay | dolby |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aufenthalt | Dolby-System, Dolby |
Where the eye mixes delay and dolby
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses delay with dolby
A purely visual mix-up. delay ([dɪˈleɪ]) and dolby ([dɔlbi]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delay is recorded at frequency rank #28,143, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɪˈleɪ]. dolby is at rank #44,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɔlbi].
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 72673, this pair ranks #381,685 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of delay vs dolby
Shared letters: dly. Private to "delay": ae. Private to "dolby": bo.
"delay" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dolby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "delay" and "dolby" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "delay" or "dolby" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "delay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dolby" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #381,685 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delay" and "dolby" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dolby vs dolce". 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 #381,685 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.