Which to use
“délices” is a noun and “délirer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,428
- “délices” frequency rank
- #36,817
- “délirer” frequency rank
- 57245
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délices | délirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plaisir extrême. | Avoir le délire ; être en délire. |
Where the eye mixes délices and délirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. délices and délirer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: délices vs délirer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délices is \de.lis\ while délirer is \de.li.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délices is recorded at frequency rank #20,428, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.lis\. délirer is at rank #36,817, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.li.ʁe\.
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 57245, this pair ranks #116,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délices vs délirer
Shared letters: deilé. Private to "délices": cs. Private to "délirer": r.
"délices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "délirer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "délices" and "délirer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "délices" or "délirer" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "délices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "délirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #116,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délices" and "délirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délier vs délirer". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #116,186 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.