débilevsDelleWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: débile is a adjective, Delle is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débile” is an adjective and “Delle” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,550
“débile” frequency rank
#27,034
“Delle” frequency rank
32584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débile Delle
Definition Faible, qui manque de forces, de vigueur. Commune française, située dans le département du Territoire de Belfort.

Where the eye mixes débile and Delle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
débile
5 ch
Delle

Visual trap between débile and Delle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débile is \de.bil\ while Delle is \dɛl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débile is recorded at frequency rank #5,550, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bil\. Delle is at rank #27,034, tagged as aname, pronounced \dɛl\.

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 32584, this pair ranks #296,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débile vs Delle

Shared letters: del. Private to "débile": bié. Private to "Delle": -.

"débile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "Delle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Delleddelle · dele · delel · dlele · edlle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débile" and "Delle" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débile" is an adjective and "Delle" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "débile" vs "Delle" - which ranks higher?
"débile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,550 in our French list, against #27,034 for "Delle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Delle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débile" and "Delle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs Delle". 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 #296,311 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list