Which to use
“Dalek” is a noun and “Daley” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,675
- “Dalek” frequency rank
- #22,637
- “Daley” frequency rank
- 58312
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dalek | Daley |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A member of a species of extraterrestrial cyborg mutants who appear in the television programme Doctor Who and are known for travelling in metallic shells, having monotone, mechanically distorted voices, repeating a limited number of phrases, and their fanatical obsession with exterminating other, non-Dalek beings. | A surname from Irish. |
Where the eye mixes Dalek and Daley
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Dalek (CVCVC) and Daley (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses Dalek with Daley
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dalek is /ˈdɑːlɛk/ while Daley is /ˈdeɪli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “Dalek” becomes y in “Daley”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Dalek is recorded at frequency rank #35,675, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɑːlɛk/. Daley is at rank #22,637, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈdeɪli/.
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 58312, this pair ranks #113,402 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Dalek vs Daley
Shared letters: adel. Private to "Dalek": k. Private to "Daley": y.
"Dalek" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Daley" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Dalek" for "Daley" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "Dalek" or "Daley" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Dalek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Daley" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,402 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Dalek" and "Daley" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dalek vs Dalia". 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 #113,402 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.