délicatesvsdélirantesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“délicates” and “délirantes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,182
“délicates” frequency rank
#39,760
“délirantes” frequency rank
57942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délicates délirantes
Definition Féminin pluriel de délicat. Féminin pluriel de délirant.

Where the eye mixes délicates and délirantes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. délicates runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCVC) against délirantes's 10 (CVCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
délicates
10 ch
délirantes

Look-alike desk: délicates vs délirantes

A purely visual mix-up. délicates (\de.li.kat\) and délirantes (\de.li.ʁɑ̃t\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délicates is recorded at frequency rank #18,182, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.li.kat\. délirantes is at rank #39,760, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.li.ʁɑ̃t\.

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 57942, this pair ranks #111,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of délicates vs délirantes

Shared letters: adeilsté. Private to "délicates": c. Private to "délirantes": nr.

"délicates" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "délirantes" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "délicates" and "délirantes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.li.kat\ versus \de.li.ʁɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "délicates" vs "délirantes" - which ranks higher?
"délicates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,182 in our French list, against #39,760 for "délirantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "délicates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "délirantes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "délicates" and "délirantes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délirantes vs délirants". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #111,998 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list