Which to use
“délétère” and “délétères” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,744
- “délétère” frequency rank
- #40,729
- “délétères” frequency rank
- 70473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délétère | délétères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nuisible ou dangereux pour la santé, nocif, qui peut causer la mort. | Pluriel de délétère. |
Same sound, different letters: délétère vs délétères
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. délétère runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against délétères's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - délétère and délétères
This is the hard kind. délétère and délétères are pronounced identically (\de.le.tɛʁ\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “délétère” sits inside “délétères”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délétère is recorded at frequency rank #29,744, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.le.tɛʁ\. délétères is at rank #40,729, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.le.tɛʁ\.
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 70473, this pair ranks #51,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of délétère vs délétères
Shared letters: delrtèé. Private to "délétère": -. Private to "délétères": s.
"délétère" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "délétères" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "délétère" and "délétères" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "délétère" or "délétères" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "délétère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délétères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délétère" and "délétères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délétère vs démettre". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #51,203 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.