dalevsdeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dale” and “de” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,331
“dale” frequency rank
#582
“de” frequency rank
7913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dale de
Definition A valley, often in an otherwise hilly area. The name of the Cyrillic script letter Д / д.

Where the eye mixes dale and de

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dale
2 ch
de

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dale (/deu/) and de (/ˈdɛ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dale is recorded at frequency rank #7,331, classified as anoun, pronounced /deu/. de is at rank #582, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɛ/.

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 7913, this pair ranks #504,995 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dale vs de

Shared letters: de. Private to "dale": al. Private to "de": -.

"dale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "de" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • daleadle · dalle · ddale · dlae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dale" and "de" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/deu/ versus /ˈdɛ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dale" or "de"?
"de" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #582 in our English list, against #7,331 for "dale". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list