Which to use
“délétère” and “délibéré” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,744
- “délétère” frequency rank
- #16,860
- “délibéré” frequency rank
- 46604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délétère | délibéré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nuisible ou dangereux pour la santé, nocif, qui peut causer la mort. | Décidé, volontaire, réfléchi, en parlant d'une action. |
Where the eye mixes délétère and délibéré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. délétère and délibéré follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between délétère and délibéré
A purely visual mix-up. délétère (\de.le.tɛʁ\) and délibéré (\de.li.be.ʁe\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46604, 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\. délibéré is at rank #16,860, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.li.be.ʁe\.
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 46604, this pair ranks #193,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délétère vs délibéré
Shared letters: dlré. Private to "délétère": etè. Private to "délibéré": bi.
"délétère" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "délibéré" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "délétère" and "délibéré" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "délétère" or "délibéré" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "délétère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délibéré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délétère" and "délibéré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délétère vs démettre". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #193,615 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.