Which to use
“delay” is a noun and “dilly” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,618
- “delay” frequency rank
- #44,739
- “dilly” frequency rank
- 48357
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delay | dilly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity. | Redolent of dill (the herb). |
Where the eye mixes delay and dilly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between delay and dilly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delay is /dɪˈleɪ/ while dilly is /ˈdɪli/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delay is recorded at frequency rank #3,618, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈleɪ/. dilly is at rank #44,739, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɪli/.
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 48357, this pair ranks #193,798 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delay vs dilly
Shared letters: dly. Private to "delay": ae. Private to "dilly": i.
"delay" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dilly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "delay" for "dilly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "delay" or "dilly"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "delay" and "dilly" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "delay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dilly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,798 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delay" and "dilly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dilly vs ditty". 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 #193,798 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.