Which to use
“delight” is a noun and “delighted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,440
- “delight” frequency rank
- #6,126
- “delighted” frequency rank
- 13566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delight | delighted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Joy; pleasure. | Greatly pleased. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set delight and delighted apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delight is /dəˈlaɪt/ while delighted is /dɪˈlaɪtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “delight” sits inside “delighted”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delight is recorded at frequency rank #7,440, classified as anoun, pronounced /dəˈlaɪt/. delighted is at rank #6,126, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈlaɪtɪd/.
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 13566, this pair ranks #475,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of delight vs delighted
Shared letters: deghilt. Private to "delight": -. Private to "delighted": -.
"delight" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "delighted" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "delight" and "delighted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "delight" or "delighted"?
Remembering delight vs delighted
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “delight”; for an adjective, it's “delighted”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “delight” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable