délivrevsdériveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“délivre” and “dérive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,774
“délivre” frequency rank
#7,052
“dérive” frequency rank
20826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délivre dérive
Definition Nom vulgaire de l’arrière-faix, dont la sortie termine l’accouchement. Écart, déviation entre le cap effectivement suivi par un navire ou un aéroplane et le cap initialement fixé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
délivre
6 ch
dérive

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. délivre (\de.livʁ\) and dérive (\de.ʁiv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délivre is recorded at frequency rank #13,774, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.livʁ\. dérive is at rank #7,052, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ʁiv\.

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 20826, this pair ranks #366,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of délivre vs dérive

Shared letters: deirvé. Private to "délivre": l. Private to "dérive": -.

"délivre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "dérive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

délivre#13,774
dérive#7,052

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délivre" and "dérive" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.livʁ\ versus \de.ʁiv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "délivre" or "dérive"?
"dérive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,052 in our French list, against #13,774 for "délivre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering délivre vs dérive

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “délivre” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list