Which to use
“délais” and “detail” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,551
- “délais” frequency rank
- #35,895
- “detail” frequency rank
- 41446
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délais | detail |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de délai. | Détail. |
Where the eye mixes délais and detail
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. délais and detail follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: délais vs detail
A purely visual mix-up. délais (\de.lɛ\) and detail (\ˈdi.teɪl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délais is recorded at frequency rank #5,551, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.lɛ\. detail is at rank #35,895, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdi.teɪl\.
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 41446, this pair ranks #233,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délais vs detail
Shared letters: adil. Private to "délais": sé. Private to "detail": et.
"délais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "detail" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- detail ← ddetail · deatil · detaill · detali · detial · dettail · dteail · edtail
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "délais" and "detail" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "délais" vs "detail" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "délais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "detail" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délais" and "detail" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "detail vs devil". 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 #233,036 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.