Which to use
“dégénéré” and “délétère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,938
- “dégénéré” frequency rank
- #29,744
- “délétère” frequency rank
- 47682
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégénéré | délétère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a subi une dégénérescence. | Nuisible ou dangereux pour la santé, nocif, qui peut causer la mort. |
Where the eye mixes dégénéré and délétère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dégénéré and délétère follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between dégénéré and délétère
A purely visual mix-up. dégénéré (\de.ʒe.ne.ʁe\) and délétère (\de.le.tɛʁ\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dégénéré is recorded at frequency rank #17,938, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ʒe.ne.ʁe\. délétère is at rank #29,744, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.le.tɛʁ\.
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 47682, this pair ranks #185,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dégénéré vs délétère
Shared letters: dré. Private to "dégénéré": gn. Private to "délétère": eltè.
"dégénéré" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "délétère" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dégénéré" for "délétère" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dégénéré" vs "délétère" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dégénéré" and "délétère" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dégénéré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délétère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégénéré" and "délétère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délétère vs démettre". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #185,000 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.