DelhivsdellaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Delhi is a name, della is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Delhi” is a name and “della” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,864
“Delhi” frequency rank
#11,845
“della” frequency rank
31709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Delhi della
Definition indische Metropole, zu der auch die Hauptstadt Neu-Delhi gehört Verschmelzung der Präposition di mit dem bestimmten Artikel la

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Delhi and della apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Delhi
5 ch
della

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Delhi is [ˈdeːli] while della is [ˈdella]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Delhi is recorded at frequency rank #19,864, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈdeːli]. della is at rank #11,845, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈdella].

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 31709, this pair ranks #1,722,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Delhi vs della

Shared letters: del. Private to "Delhi": hi. Private to "della": a.

"Delhi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "della" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Delhiddelhi · dehli · delhhi · delih · dellhi · dlehi · edlhi
  • delladdella · delal · dlela · edlla

Frequency comparison

Delhi#19,864
della#11,845

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Delhi" and "della" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Delhi" is a name and "della" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Delhi" or "della"?
"della" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,845 in our German list, against #19,864 for "Delhi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Delhi vs della

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Delhi”; for a preposition, it's “della”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Delhi” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list