Which to use
“délirer” and “désirez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,817
- “délirer” frequency rank
- #11,397
- “désirez” frequency rank
- 48214
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délirer | désirez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Avoir le délire ; être en délire. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de désirer. |
Where the eye mixes délirer and désirez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. délirer and désirez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses délirer with désirez
A purely visual mix-up. délirer (\de.li.ʁe\) and désirez (\de.zi.ʁe\) 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 48214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délirer is recorded at frequency rank #36,817, classified as averb, pronounced \de.li.ʁe\. désirez is at rank #11,397, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.zi.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 48214, this pair ranks #180,721 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délirer vs désirez
Shared letters: deiré. Private to "délirer": l. Private to "désirez": sz.
"délirer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "désirez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "délirer" and "désirez" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "délirer" or "désirez"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "délirer" and "désirez" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "délirer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désirez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,721 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délirer" and "désirez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délier vs délirer". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #180,721 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.