Which to use
“décès” and “délices” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,037
- “décès” frequency rank
- #20,428
- “délices” frequency rank
- 22465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décès | délices |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mort naturelle d’une personne. | Plaisir extrême. |
Where the eye mixes décès and délices
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. décès runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against délices's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between décès and délices
A purely visual mix-up. décès (\de.sɛ\) and délices (\de.lis\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décès is recorded at frequency rank #2,037, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ\. délices is at rank #20,428, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.lis\.
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 22465, this pair ranks #357,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of décès vs délices
Shared letters: cdsé. Private to "décès": è. Private to "délices": eil.
"décès" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "délices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décès" and "délices" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "décès" or "délices" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "décès" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décès" and "délices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délices vs délier". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #357,828 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.