délégationsvsdérogationsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,413
“délégations” frequency rank
#26,340
“dérogations” frequency rank
43753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délégations dérogations
Definition Pluriel de délégation. Pluriel de dérogation.

Where the eye mixes délégations and dérogations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. délégations and dérogations follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
délégations
11 ch
dérogations

Look-alike desk: délégations vs dérogations

A purely visual mix-up. délégations (\de.le.ɡa.sjɔ̃\) and dérogations (\de.ʁɔ.ɡa.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 43753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délégations is recorded at frequency rank #17,413, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.le.ɡa.sjɔ̃\. dérogations is at rank #26,340, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ʁɔ.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 43753, this pair ranks #215,696 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of délégations vs dérogations

Shared letters: adginosté. Private to "délégations": l. Private to "dérogations": r.

"délégations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC  ·  "dérogations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délégations" and "dérogations" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.le.ɡa.sjɔ̃\ versus \de.ʁɔ.ɡa.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "délégations" vs "dérogations" - which ranks higher?
"délégations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,413 in our French list, against #26,340 for "dérogations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "délégations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dérogations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,696 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "délégations" and "dérogations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dérogation vs dérogations". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #215,696 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