Which to use
“dedicate” is a verb and “delicate” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,733
- “dedicate” frequency rank
- #7,003
- “delicate” frequency rank
- 21736
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dedicate | delicate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate. | Easily damaged or requiring careful handling. |
Where the eye mixes dedicate and delicate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dedicate and delicate
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dedicate is /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/ while delicate is /ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “dedicate” becomes l in “delicate”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dedicate is recorded at frequency rank #14,733, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/. delicate is at rank #7,003, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/.
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 21736, this pair ranks #421,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dedicate vs delicate
Shared letters: acdeit. Private to "dedicate": -. Private to "delicate": l.
"dedicate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "delicate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dedicate" and "delicate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dedicate" vs "delicate" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dedicate" and "delicate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dedicate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delicate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dedicate" and "delicate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delicate vs delineate". 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 #421,736 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.