délaivsDolanTell them apart

Quick tell: délai is a noun, Dolan is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“délai” is a noun and “Dolan” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,711
“délai” frequency rank
#21,597
“Dolan” frequency rank
24308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délai Dolan
Definition Temps accordé pour faire une chose, ou à l’expiration duquel on sera tenu de faire une certaine chose. Nom de famille.

Letter map: délai vs Dolan

Shared letters muted; letters that set délai and Dolan apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. délai (CVCVV) and Dolan (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
délai
5 ch
Dolan

Grammar separator: délai vs Dolan

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: délai is anoun and Dolananame. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24308, 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\. Dolan is at rank #21,597, tagged as aname.

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 24308, this pair ranks #347,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of délai vs Dolan

Shared letters: adl. Private to "délai": ié. Private to "Dolan": no.

"délai" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Dolan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dolan ← ddolan · dloan · doaln · dolann · dollan · dolna · odlan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délai" and "Dolan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "délai" is a noun and "Dolan" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "délai" or "Dolan"?
"délai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,711 in our French list, against #21,597 for "Dolan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "délai" and "Dolan".

  • Full dictionary entry for "délai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dolan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #347,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "délai" and "Dolan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dolan vs dotant". 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 #347,349 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list