Which to use
“dealt” is a verb and “delft” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,115
- “dealt” frequency rank
- #40,648
- “delft” frequency rank
- 45763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dealt | delft |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of deal | Alternative form of Delft (“style of earthenware”). |
Where the eye mixes dealt and delft
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dealt (CVVCC) and delft (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between dealt and delft
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dealt is /ˈdɛlt/ while delft is [dɛɫft]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dealt is recorded at frequency rank #5,115, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛlt/. delft is at rank #40,648, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɛɫft].
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 45763, this pair ranks #218,175 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dealt vs delft
Shared letters: delt. Private to "dealt": a. Private to "delft": f.
"dealt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "delft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dealt" and "delft" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dealt" vs "delft" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dealt" and "delft" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dealt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #218,175 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dealt" and "delft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delft vs dwelt". 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 #218,175 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.