décrètevsdeleteWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décrète and delete apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
décrète
6 ch
delete

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • deleteddelete · deelte · deleet · delette · dellete · deltee · dleete · edlete

Frequency comparison

décrète#24,554
delete#42,817

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décrète" and "delete" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.kʁɛt\ versus \di.lit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "décrète" or "delete"?
"décrète" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,554 in our French list, against #42,817 for "delete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering décrète vs delete

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “décrète” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list