Discreet or discrete?
discreet is an adjective meaning “Respectful of privacy or secrecy; exercising caution in order to avoid causing…”; discrete is an adjective meaning “Separate; distinct; individual; non-continuous”. They sound the same (/dɪˈskɹiːt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) discrete is about as common as discreet.
What is the difference between discreet and discrete?
| discreet | discrete | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective |
| Meaning | Respectful of privacy or secrecy; exercising caution in order to avoid causing embarrassment; quiet; diplomatic Not drawing attention, anger or challenge; inconspicuous | Separate; distinct; individual; non-continuous That can be perceived individually, not as connected to, or part of, something else |
| Example | With a discreet gesture, she reminded him to mind his manners | a government with three discrete divisions |
| Forms | discreeter, discreetest | discreter, discretest |
| Pronunciation | /dɪˈskɹiːt/ | /dɪˈskɹiːt/ /dɪˈskɹit/ |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words | 3.6 times per million words |
Sources: discreet and discrete in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of discreet and discrete
discreet
- 1
Respectful of privacy or secrecy; exercising caution in order to avoid causing embarrassment; quiet; diplomatic
With a discreet gesture, she reminded him to mind his manners
- 2
Not drawing attention, anger or challenge; inconspicuous
discrete
- 1
Separate; distinct; individual; non-continuous
a government with three discrete divisions
- 2
That can be perceived individually, not as connected to, or part of, something else
- 3
Consisting of or permitting only distinct values drawn from a finite, countable set
a discrete sum
- 4
Having separate electronic components, such as individual diodes, transistors and resistors, as opposed to integrated circuitry
- 5
Having separate and independent channels of audio, as opposed to multiplexed stereo or quadraphonic, or other multi-channel sound
- 6
Having each singleton subset open: said of a topological space or a topology
- 7
Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive clause
"I resign my life, but not my honour" is a discrete proposition
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, discreet or discrete?
discreet appears 2.7 times per million words; discrete 3.6 times per million words.
discreet 2.7 times per million wordsdiscrete 3.6 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search discreet vs discrete?
“discreet vs discrete” is searched about 960 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.