Which to use
“délicat” and “délicates” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,178
- “délicat” frequency rank
- #18,182
- “délicates” frequency rank
- 25360
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délicat | délicates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est d’une très grande finesse, très délié. | Féminin pluriel de délicat. |
Where the eye mixes délicat and délicates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. délicat runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against délicates's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: délicat vs délicates
A purely visual mix-up. délicat (\de.li.ka\) and délicates (\de.li.kat\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “délicat” sits inside “délicates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délicat is recorded at frequency rank #7,178, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.li.ka\. délicates is at rank #18,182, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.li.kat\.
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 25360, this pair ranks #341,322 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of délicat vs délicates
Shared letters: acdilté. Private to "délicat": -. Private to "délicates": es.
"délicat" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "délicates" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "délicat" and "délicates" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "délicat" or "délicates" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "délicat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délicates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #341,322 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délicat" and "délicates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délicates vs délirantes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #341,322 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.