Which to use
“della” is an article and “dla” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,444
- “della” frequency rank
- #27,771
- “dla” frequency rank
- 42215
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | della | dla |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Article contracté souvent traduit par De la. | Pour. |
Where the eye mixes della and dla
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses della with dla
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: della is \ˈdel.la\ while dla is \dla\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
della is recorded at frequency rank #14,444, classified as anarticle, pronounced \ˈdel.la\. dla is at rank #27,771, tagged as aprep, pronounced \dla\.
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 42215, this pair ranks #227,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of della vs dla
Shared letters: adl. Private to "della": e. Private to "dla": -.
"della" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "dla" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- della ← ddella · delal · dlela · edlla
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "della" for "dla" ever safe?
Which is more common, "della" or "dla"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "della" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "della" and "dla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dla vs dray". 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 #227,332 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.