Which to use
“délires” is a noun and “désirées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,161
- “délires” frequency rank
- #46,732
- “désirées” frequency rank
- 59893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délires | désirées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de délire. | Féminin pluriel de désiré. |
Where the eye mixes délires and désirées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. délires runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against désirées's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses délires with désirées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délires is \de.liʁ\ while désirées is \de.zi.ʁe\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délires is recorded at frequency rank #13,161, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.liʁ\. désirées is at rank #46,732, tagged as anadj, 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 59893, this pair ranks #100,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of délires vs désirées
Shared letters: deirsé. Private to "délires": l. Private to "désirées": -.
"délires" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "désirées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "délires" for "désirées" ever safe?
Which is more common, "délires" or "désirées"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "délires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désirées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délires" and "désirées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirées vs désireuses". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #100,619 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.