Which to use
“dedicated” and “delicate” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,573
- “dedicated” frequency rank
- #7,003
- “delicate” frequency rank
- 9576
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dedicated | delicate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Devoted; loyal; conscientious. | Easily damaged or requiring careful handling. |
Where the eye mixes dedicated and delicate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dedicated and delicate
A purely visual mix-up. dedicated (/ˈdɛdɪkeɪtəd/) and delicate (/ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dedicated is recorded at frequency rank #2,573, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛdɪkeɪtəd/. 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 9576, this pair ranks #496,693 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dedicated vs delicate
Shared letters: acdeit. Private to "dedicated": -. Private to "delicate": l.
"dedicated" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC · "delicate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dedicated" and "delicate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dedicated" vs "delicate" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dedicated" 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 #496,693 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dedicated" 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 #496,693 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.