Which to use
“délice” and “délices” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,267
- “délice” frequency rank
- #20,428
- “délices” frequency rank
- 39695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délice | délices |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plaisir extrême. | Plaisir extrême. |
Same sound, different letters: délice vs délices
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. délice runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against délices's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: délice vs délices
This is the hard kind. délice and délices are pronounced identically (\de.lis\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “délice” sits inside “délices”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délice is recorded at frequency rank #19,267, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.lis\. délices is at rank #20,428, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.lis\.
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 39695, this pair ranks #246,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délice vs délices
Shared letters: cdeilé. Private to "délice": -. Private to "délices": s.
"délice" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "délices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "délice" for "délices" ever safe?
Which is more common, "délice" or "délices"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "délice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #246,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délice" and "délices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délices vs délier". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #246,073 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.