dle
"dle" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dle” is an uncommon English word, ranked #85,184 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #85,184
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A short, daily web-based guessing game or puzzle, especially one of many played one after another.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #85,184 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dle is 3 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #85,184 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A short, daily web-based guessing game or puzzle, especially one of many played one after another.".
Zero misspellings are on record for dle in our index -- a straightforward spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry -- nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from Wordle (“web-based word game”), imitating the apparent suffix (taken from the surname of developer Josh Wardle). The correct English form is dle, spelled D-L-E.
Definition
- 1A short, daily web-based guessing game or puzzle, especially one of many played one after another.
Etymology
Back-formation from Wordle (“web-based word game”), imitating the apparent suffix (taken from the surname of developer Josh Wardle).
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 “dle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.