dal

abbrev

The verdict

“dal” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #30,502) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#30,502
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dekaliter

Corpus desk

Index DE-dal · dal · German

dal · rank #30,502 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,502
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Containern

Nearest frequency peer: Containern (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “dal”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “dal” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dal vs du
33% similar
dal vs de
33% similar
dal vs do
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dal
PropertyValue
Headworddal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters3
Frequency rank#30,502
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “dal” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).dalliegt hier:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „Containern“ (#30,501), „Darbietungen“ (#30,503), „como“ (#30,500). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for dal is neighbouring look-alikes ("du", "de", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation. Frequency #30,502 among 2,764 “D” headwords. Gloss: "Dekaliter".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dal, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "du", "de", "do", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is dal, spelled D-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dekaliter

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how dal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 1,5 dal entsprechen 15 l.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dal"?
"dal" is spelled D-A-L.
What does "dal" mean?
As an abbreviation, "dal" means: Dekaliter
What words are commonly confused with "dal"?
"dal" is commonly confused with "du", "de", "do". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "dal" come from?
"dal" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

What to do next

You've looked up "dal". Here's where to go from here.

  • "dal" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "du". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #30,502 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more German words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list