délégationvsdélégationsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,569
“délégation” frequency rank
#17,413
“délégations” frequency rank
21982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délégation délégations
Definition Action de déléguer une personne. Pluriel de délégation.

Same sound, different letters: délégation vs délégations

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. délégation runs 10 letters (CVCVCVCVVC) against délégations's 11 (CVCVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
délégation
11 ch
délégations

Same sound, different spelling - délégation / délégations

This is the hard kind. délégation and délégations are pronounced identically (\de.le.ɡa.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “délégation” sits inside “délégations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délégation is recorded at frequency rank #4,569, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.le.ɡa.sjɔ̃\. délégations is at rank #17,413, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.le.ɡa.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 21982, this pair ranks #360,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of délégation vs délégations

Shared letters: adgilnoté. Private to "délégation": -. Private to "délégations": s.

"délégation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC  ·  "délégations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "délégation" for "délégations" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\de.le.ɡa.sjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "délégation" or "délégations" show up more?
"délégation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,569 in our French list, against #17,413 for "délégations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"délégation" and "délégations" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "délégation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "délégations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #360,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "délégation" and "délégations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délectation vs délégation". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #360,413 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