délier vs délires, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“délier” is a verb and “délires” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,997
“délier” frequency rank: #13,161
“délires” frequency rank: 58158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	délier	délires
Definition	Dégager de ce qui lie.	Pluriel de délire.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set délier and délires apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

délier

7 ch

délires

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délier is \de.lje\ while délires is \de.liʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délier is recorded at frequency rank #44,997, classified as averb, pronounced \de.lje\. délires is at rank #13,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.liʁ\.

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 58158, this pair ranks #110,695 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of délier vs délires

Shared letters: deilré. Private to "délier": -. Private to "délires": s.

"délier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "délires" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

délier#44,997

délires#13,161

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délier" and "délires" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "délier" is a verb and "délires" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "délier" or "délires"?

"délires" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,161 in our French list, against #44,997 for "délier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering délier vs délires

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “délier”; for a noun, it's “délires”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “délier” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable