Darling
[ˈdaːɐ̯lɪŋ]
The verdict
“Darling” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #27,242 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,242
- frequency rank, German
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Anrede und Kosename für einen Menschen, den man gern hat
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Darling |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈdaːɐ̯lɪŋ] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #27,242 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Darling” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Darling is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈdaːɐ̯lɪŋ]. Corpus data places it at rank #27,242 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Anrede und Kosename für einen Menschen, den man gern hat".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for Darling, with forms such as "adrling", "dalring", and "darilng". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "dating", "Darwin", "during", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Darling, spelled D-A-R-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Anrede und Kosename für einen Menschen, den man gern hat
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: adrling,dalring,darilng,darlign,darlingg,darlinng,darlling,darlnig,darrling,ddarling,draling
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Darling - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "Darling"?
What does "Darling" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Darling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is D-A-R-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈdaːɐ̯lɪŋ] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “dating” - see the side-by-side comparison. Darling vs dating
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.