Which to use
“délit” is a noun and “devil” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,934
- “délit” frequency rank
- #30,561
- “devil” frequency rank
- 35495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délit | devil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Toute infraction, consciente ou non, aux lois. | Le Diable, Satan. |
Where the eye mixes délit and devil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: délit vs devil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délit is \de.li\ while devil is \ˈdɛvəl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délit is recorded at frequency rank #4,934, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.li\. devil is at rank #30,561, tagged as aname, pronounced \ˈdɛvəl\.
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 35495, this pair ranks #276,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délit vs devil
Shared letters: dil. Private to "délit": té. Private to "devil": ev.
"délit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devil ← ddevil · deivl · devill · devli · devvil · dveil · edvil
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "délit" for "devil" ever safe?
Frequency check: "délit" vs "devil" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "délit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délit" and "devil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs devil". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #276,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.