Which to use
“degli” is an article and “délai” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,274
- “degli” frequency rank
- #2,711
- “délai” frequency rank
- 44985
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | degli | délai |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Article contracté souvent traduit par des. Note d’usage : il s’emploie alternativement à dei devant les consonnes impures : s, gn, pn, ps, x, z. | Temps accordé pour faire une chose, ou à l’expiration duquel on sera tenu de faire une certaine chose. |
Where the eye mixes degli and délai
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. degli (CVCCV) and délai (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses degli with délai
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: degli is \ˈdeʎ.ʎi\ while délai is \de.lɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
degli is recorded at frequency rank #42,274, classified as anarticle, pronounced \ˈdeʎ.ʎi\. délai is at rank #2,711, 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 44985, this pair ranks #206,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of degli vs délai
Shared letters: dil. Private to "degli": eg. Private to "délai": aé.
"degli" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "délai" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- degli ← ddegli · deggli · degil · deglli · delgi · dgeli · edgli
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "degli" and "délai" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "degli" or "délai" show up more?
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 "degli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "degli" and "délai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degli vs DGSI". 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 #206,289 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.