délabrévsdéplaireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: délabré is a adjective, déplaire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“délabré” is an adjective and “déplaire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,753
“délabré” frequency rank
#21,299
“déplaire” frequency rank
63052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délabré déplaire
Definition En mauvais état, en parlant d’une chose, d’une construction. Être désagréable, en parlant des personnes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set délabré and déplaire apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
délabré
8 ch
déplaire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délabré is \de.lɑ.bʁe\ while déplaire is \de.plɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délabré is recorded at frequency rank #41,753, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.lɑ.bʁe\. déplaire is at rank #21,299, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.plɛʁ\.

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 63052, this pair ranks #83,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of délabré vs déplaire

Shared letters: adlré. Private to "délabré": b. Private to "déplaire": eip.

"délabré" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "déplaire" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Frequency comparison

délabré#41,753
déplaire#21,299

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délabré" and "déplaire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "délabré" is an adjective and "déplaire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "délabré" or "déplaire"?
"déplaire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,299 in our French list, against #41,753 for "délabré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering délabré vs déplaire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “délabré”; for a verb, it's “déplaire”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “délabré” 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