DelphinvsDelphineWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Delphin” and “Delphine” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,211
“Delphin” frequency rank
#37,445
“Delphine” frequency rank
82656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Delphin Delphine
Definition zu den Zahnwalen gehörendes, in Schulen lebendes, meist fischfressendes Meeressäugetier mit torpedoförmigem Körper, langgezogenem Schnabel und kegelförmigen Zähnen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Delphin

Where the eye mixes Delphin and Delphine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Delphin runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against Delphine's 8 (CVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Delphin
8 ch
Delphine

Why the eye confuses Delphin with Delphine

A purely visual mix-up. Delphin ([dɛlˈfiːn]) and Delphine ([dɛlˈfiːnə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Delphin” sits inside “Delphine”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Delphin is recorded at frequency rank #45,211, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɛlˈfiːn]. Delphine is at rank #37,445, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɛlˈfiːnə].

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 82656, this pair ranks #153,330 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Delphin vs Delphine

Shared letters: dehilnp. Private to "Delphin": -. Private to "Delphine": -.

"Delphin" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Delphine" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Delphin ← ddelphin · delhpin · dellphin · delphhin · delphinn · delphni · delpihn · delpphin
  • Delphine ← ddelphine · delhpine · dellphine · delphhine · delphien · delphinne · delphnie · delpihne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Delphin" for "Delphine" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([dɛlˈfiːn] versus [dɛlˈfiːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Delphin" or "Delphine"?
"Delphine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,445 in our German list, against #45,211 for "Delphin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Delphin" and "Delphine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Delphin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Delphine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,330 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Delphin" and "Delphine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Delfin vs Delphin". 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 #153,330 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