Which to use
“délivrer” and “dériver” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,145
- “délivrer” frequency rank
- #25,632
- “dériver” frequency rank
- 35777
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délivrer | dériver |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rendre libre de ce qui oppresse, de ce qui fait souffrir, de ce qui incommode. | Détourner un cours d’eau. |
Where the eye mixes délivrer and dériver
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. délivrer runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against dériver's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: délivrer vs dériver
A purely visual mix-up. délivrer (\de.li.vʁe\) and dériver (\de.ʁi.ve\) 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 35777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
délivrer is recorded at frequency rank #10,145, classified as averb, pronounced \de.li.vʁe\. dériver is at rank #25,632, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁi.ve\.
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 35777, this pair ranks #274,307 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of délivrer vs dériver
Shared letters: deirvé. Private to "délivrer": l. Private to "dériver": -.
"délivrer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "délivrer" for "dériver" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "délivrer" or "dériver" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "délivrer" and "dériver" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "délivrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dériver" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #274,307 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délivrer" and "dériver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délier vs dériver". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #274,307 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.