Which to use
“délice” and “déluge” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,267
- “délice” frequency rank
- #15,611
- “déluge” frequency rank
- 34878
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délice | déluge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plaisir extrême. | Selon le mythe biblique, l’inondation provoquée par Dieu voulant détruire l’humanité, dont seuls quelques hommes réchappent, notamment dans un récit parmi d’autres : Noé et son arche. |
Where the eye mixes délice and déluge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses délice with déluge
A purely visual mix-up. délice (\de.lis\) and déluge (\de.lyʒ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34878, 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\. déluge is at rank #15,611, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.lyʒ\.
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 34878, this pair ranks #280,711 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délice vs déluge
Shared letters: delé. Private to "délice": ci. Private to "déluge": gu.
"délice" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "déluge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "délice" and "déluge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "délice" or "déluge" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "délice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déluge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,711 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délice" and "déluge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délice vs déviée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #280,711 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.