Which to use
“délicate” and “délicates” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,430
- “délicate” frequency rank
- #18,182
- “délicates” frequency rank
- 25612
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délicate | délicates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de délicat. | Féminin pluriel de délicat. |
Same sound, different letters: délicate vs délicates
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. délicate runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against délicates's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - délicate / délicates
This is the hard kind. délicate and délicates are pronounced identically (\de.li.kat\) 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) - “délicate” sits inside “délicates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délicate is recorded at frequency rank #7,430, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.li.kat\. 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 25612, this pair ranks #339,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of délicate vs délicates
Shared letters: acdeilté. Private to "délicate": -. Private to "délicates": s.
"délicate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "délicates" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "délicate" and "délicates" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "délicate" or "délicates"?
What to do next
"délicate" and "délicates" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "délicate" 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 #339,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délicate" and "délicates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délicates vs délirantes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #339,850 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.