Developmental dyslexia is commonly believed to result from a deficiency in the recognition and processing of speech sounds. According to the cerebellar deficit hypothesis, this phonological deficit is caused by deficient cerebellar function. In the current study, 26 adults with developmental dyslexia and 25 non-dyslexic participants underwent testing of reading-related skills, cerebellar functions, and MRI scanning of the brain. Anatomical assessment of the cerebellum was conducted with voxel-based morphometry. Behavioural evidence, that was indicative of impaired cerebellar function, was found to co-occur with reading impairments in the dyslexic subjects, but a causal relation between the two was not observed. No differences in local grey matter volume, nor in structure–function relationships within the cerebellum were found between the two groups. Possibly, the observed behavioural pattern is due to aberrant white matter connectivity. In conclusion, no support for the cerebellar deficit hypothesis or the presence of anatomical differences of the cerebellum in adults with developmental dyslexia was found.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00221-018-5351-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.