Which to use
“dédain” and “délais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,783
- “dédain” frequency rank
- #5,551
- “délais” frequency rank
- 33334
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dédain | délais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mépris exprimé par l’air, le ton ou le maintien. | Pluriel de délai. |
Where the eye mixes dédain and délais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dédain and délais follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between dédain and délais
A purely visual mix-up. dédain (\de.dɛ̃\) and délais (\de.lɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dédain is recorded at frequency rank #27,783, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.dɛ̃\. délais is at rank #5,551, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.lɛ\.
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 33334, this pair ranks #291,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dédain vs délais
Shared letters: adié. Private to "dédain": n. Private to "délais": ls.
"dédain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "délais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dédain" for "délais" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dédain" or "délais"?
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 "dédain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #291,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dédain" and "délais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dédain vs detail". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #291,323 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.