delivervsdeliveryWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: deliver is a verb, delivery is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deliver” is a verb and “delivery” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,724
“deliver” frequency rank
#2,528
“delivery” frequency rank
5252
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deliver delivery
Definition To set free from restraint or danger. The act of conveying something.

Where the eye mixes deliver and delivery

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
deliver
8 ch
delivery

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deliver is /dɪˈlɪvə(ɹ)/ while delivery is /dɪˈlɪv.(ə.)ɹi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “deliver” sits inside “delivery”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deliver is recorded at frequency rank #2,724, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈlɪvə(ɹ)/. delivery is at rank #2,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈlɪv.(ə.)ɹi/.

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 5252, this pair ranks #516,028 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deliver vs delivery

Shared letters: deilrv. Private to "deliver": -. Private to "delivery": y.

"deliver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "delivery" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deliverddeliver · deilver · delievr · deliverr · delivre · delivver · delliver · delvier
  • deliveryddelivery · deilvery · delievry · deliverry · deliveryy · deliveyr · delivrey · delivvery

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deliver" and "delivery" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deliver" is a verb and "delivery" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deliver" or "delivery"?
"delivery" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,528 in our English list, against #2,724 for "deliver". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list