Which to use
“delete” is a verb and “Deleuze” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,817
- “delete” frequency rank
- #32,774
- “Deleuze” frequency rank
- 75591
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delete | Deleuze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de deleter. | Nom de famille, notamment connu par le philosophe français Gilles Deleuze. |
Where the eye mixes delete and Deleuze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between delete and Deleuze
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delete is \di.lit\ while Deleuze is \də.løz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delete is recorded at frequency rank #42,817, classified as averb, pronounced \di.lit\. Deleuze is at rank #32,774, tagged as aname, pronounced \də.løz\.
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 75591, this pair ranks #33,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of delete vs Deleuze
Shared letters: del. Private to "delete": t. Private to "Deleuze": uz.
"delete" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "Deleuze" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "delete" for "Deleuze" ever safe?
Which is more common, "delete" or "Deleuze"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "delete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Deleuze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delete" and "Deleuze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delete vs désuète". 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 #33,612 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.