délai vs dello, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set délai and dello apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

délai

5 ch

dello

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

délai#2,711

dello#35,458

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délai" and "dello" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "délai" is a noun and "dello" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "délai" or "dello"?

"délai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,711 in our French list, against #35,458 for "dello". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering délai vs dello

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “délai”; for an article, it's “dello”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “délai” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable