decidervsdélierConfusable pair

Which to use

“decider” and “délier” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,731
“decider” frequency rank
#44,997
“délier” frequency rank
86728
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decider délier
Definition Décider. Dégager de ce qui lie.

Where the eye mixes decider and délier

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. decider runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against délier's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
decider
6 ch
délier

Visual trap between decider and délier

A purely visual mix-up. decider (\de.t͡si.ˈdɛr\) and délier (\de.lje\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decider is recorded at frequency rank #41,731, classified as averb, pronounced \de.t͡si.ˈdɛr\. délier is at rank #44,997, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.lje\.

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 86728, this pair ranks #9,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of decider vs délier

Shared letters: deir. Private to "decider": c. Private to "délier": lé.

"decider" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "délier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decider ← dceider · ddecider · deccider · decdier · decidder · deciderr · decidre · deciedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "decider" and "délier" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.t͡si.ˈdɛr\ versus \de.lje\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "decider" or "délier"?
"decider" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,731 in our French list, against #44,997 for "délier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "decider" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "délier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decider" and "délier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délier vs déviée". 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 #9,253 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