Which to use
“décrète” and “delete” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,554
- “décrète” frequency rank
- #42,817
- “delete” frequency rank
- 67371
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décrète | delete |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décréter. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de deleter. |
Where the eye mixes décrète and delete
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. décrète runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against delete's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: décrète vs delete
A purely visual mix-up. décrète (\de.kʁɛt\) and delete (\di.lit\) 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 67371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décrète is recorded at frequency rank #24,554, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kʁɛt\. delete is at rank #42,817, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.lit\.
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 67371, this pair ranks #63,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décrète vs delete
Shared letters: det. Private to "décrète": crèé. Private to "delete": l.
"décrète" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "delete" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- delete ← ddelete · deelte · deleet · delette · dellete · deltee · dleete · edlete
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décrète" and "delete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "décrète" vs "delete" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "décrète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décrète" and "delete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delete vs désuète". 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 #63,700 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.