délivréevsdésiréeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: délivrée is a verb, désirée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“délivrée” is a verb and “désirée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,687
“délivrée” frequency rank
#19,525
“désirée” frequency rank
37212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature délivrée désirée
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de délivrer. Féminin singulier de désiré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set délivrée and désirée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
délivrée
7 ch
désirée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: délivrée is \de.li.vʁe\ while désirée 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

délivrée is recorded at frequency rank #17,687, classified as averb, pronounced \de.li.vʁe\. désirée is at rank #19,525, 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 37212, this pair ranks #264,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of délivrée vs désirée

Shared letters: deiré. Private to "délivrée": lv. Private to "désirée": s.

"délivrée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "désirée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

délivrée#17,687
désirée#19,525

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "délivrée" and "désirée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "délivrée" is a verb and "désirée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "délivrée" or "désirée"?
"délivrée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,687 in our French list, against #19,525 for "désirée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering délivrée vs désirée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “délivrée”; for an adjective, it's “désirée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “délivrée” 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