délationvsdotationWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“délation” and “dotation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,257
“délation” frequency rank
#13,772
“dotation” frequency rank
52029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délation dotation
Definition Dénonciation faite dans un mauvais dessein (obtenir un avantage quelconque, tel de l’argent). Action de doter un établissement d’utilité publique, un corps, etc.

Where the eye mixes délation and dotation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
délation
8 ch
dotation

Look-alike desk: délation vs dotation

A purely visual mix-up. délation (\de.la.sjɔ̃\) and dotation (\dɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délation is recorded at frequency rank #38,257, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.la.sjɔ̃\. dotation is at rank #13,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\.

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 52029, this pair ranks #150,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of délation vs dotation

Shared letters: adinot. Private to "délation": . Private to "dotation": -.

"délation" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "dotation" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dotationddotation · doattion · dotaiton · dotatino · dotationn · dotatoin · dotattion · dottaion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "délation" for "dotation" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.la.sjɔ̃\ versus \dɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "délation" or "dotation" show up more?
"dotation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,772 in our French list, against #38,257 for "délation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "délation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dotation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #150,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "délation" and "dotation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déflation vs délation". 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 #150,688 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