delta
/ˈdɛltə/
"delta" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“delta” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,873 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,873
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The fourth letter of the modern Greek alphabet Δ, δ.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | delta |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɛltə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,873 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “delta” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for delta is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɛltə/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,873 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for delta, with forms such as "ddelta", "dellta", and "deltta". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dent", "DotA", "deva", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), borrowed from a Phoenician word for "door", ultimately from Proto-Semitic *dalt-. Doublet of dalet. * (river): from the triangular shape of the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ * (USSF): from the delta wing, symbol of the USS… The correct English form is delta, spelled D-E-L-T-A.
Definition
- 1The fourth letter of the modern Greek alphabet Δ, δ.
- 2A landform at the mouth of a river where it empties into a body of water.
- 3Alternative letter-case form of Delta from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
- 4The symbol Δ; A change in a quantity, likely from "d" for "difference".
- 5The rate of change in an option value with respect to the underlying asset's price.
- 6A value in delta notation indicating the relative abundances of isotopes.
- 7The set of differences between two versions of a file.
- 8A small but noticeable effect. Compare epsilon.
- 9The angle subtended at the center of a circular arc.
- 10A type of cargo bike that has one wheel in front and two in back.
- 11The closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, especially in a three-phase system.
- 12A military unit, nominally headed by a colonel, equivalent to a USAF operations wing, or an army regiment.
- 13a star that is usually the fourth brightest of a constellation.
- 14one of four baryons consisting of up and down quarks with a combined spin of 3/2: Δ⁺⁺ (uuu), Δ⁺ (uud), Δ⁰ (udd), or Δ⁻ (ddd)
- 15Ellipsis of delta variant (variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus).
Etymology
From Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), borrowed from a Phoenician word for "door", ultimately from Proto-Semitic *dalt-. Doublet of dalet. * (river): from the triangular shape of the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ * (USSF): from the delta wing, symbol of the USSF, a triangular wing, shaped like the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddelta,dellta,deltta,detla,dleta,edlta
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of delta - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “delta”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-L-T-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɛltə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “dent” - see the side-by-side comparison. delta vs dent
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.