Which to use
“délai” is a noun and “dello” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,711
- “délai” frequency rank
- #35,458
- “dello” frequency rank
- 38169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délai | dello |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Temps accordé pour faire une chose, ou à l’expiration duquel on sera tenu de faire une certaine chose. | Contraction de di (« de ») et lo (« le »), du. |
Where the eye mixes délai and dello
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. délai (CVCVV) and dello (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between délai and dello
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délai is \de.lɛ\ while dello is \ˈdel.lo\. 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 (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délai is recorded at frequency rank #2,711, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.lɛ\. dello is at rank #35,458, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \ˈdel.lo\.
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 38169, this pair ranks #257,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délai vs dello
Shared letters: dl. Private to "délai": aié. Private to "dello": eo.
"délai" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dello" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dello ← ddello · delo · delol · dlelo · edllo
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "délai" and "dello" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "délai" or "dello"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "délai" and "dello" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "délai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dello" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délai" and "dello" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degli vs dello". 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 #257,172 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.