dellavsDuelleTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#11,845
“della” frequency rank
#33,539
“Duelle” frequency rank
45384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature della Duelle
Definition Verschmelzung der Präposition di mit dem bestimmten Artikel la Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Duell

Where the eye mixes della and Duelle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. della runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Duelle's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
della
6 ch
Duelle

Visual trap between della and Duelle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: della is [ˈdella] while Duelle is [duˈɛlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

della is recorded at frequency rank #11,845, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈdella]. Duelle is at rank #33,539, tagged as anoun, pronounced [duˈɛlə].

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 45384, this pair ranks #1,354,871 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of della vs Duelle

Shared letters: del. Private to "della": a. Private to "Duelle": u.

"della" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Duelle" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • della ← ddella · delal · dlela · edlla
  • Duelle ← dduelle · deulle · duele · duelel · dulele · udelle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "della" for "Duelle" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "della" is a preposition and "Duelle" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "della" or "Duelle" show up more?
"della" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,845 in our German list, against #33,539 for "Duelle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "della" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Duelle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,354,871 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "della" and "Duelle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Diele vs Duelle". 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 #1,354,871 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