delftvsdentConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,648
“delft” frequency rank
#11,678
“dent” frequency rank
52326
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delft dent
Definition Alternative form of Delft (“style of earthenware”). A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact.

Where the eye mixes delft and dent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
delft
4 ch
dent

Why the eye confuses delft with dent

A purely visual mix-up. delft ([dɛɫft]) and dent (/dɛnt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52326, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delft is recorded at frequency rank #40,648, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɛɫft]. dent is at rank #11,678, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛnt/.

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 52326, this pair ranks #158,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delft vs dent

Shared letters: det. Private to "delft": fl. Private to "dent": n.

"delft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "dent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delftddelft · deflt · delfft · delftt · dellft · deltf · dleft · edlft
  • dentddent · dennt · dentt · detn · dnet · ednt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "delft" and "dent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([dɛɫft] versus /dɛnt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "delft" vs "dent" - which ranks higher?
"dent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,678 in our English list, against #40,648 for "delft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "delft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delft" and "dent" 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 #158,017 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list