Which to use
“délivrer” and “désirer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,145
- “délivrer” frequency rank
- #13,581
- “désirer” frequency rank
- 23726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | délivrer | désirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rendre libre de ce qui oppresse, de ce qui fait souffrir, de ce qui incommode. | Vouloir posséder un bien ou un avantage qu’on n’a pas. |
Where the eye mixes délivrer and désirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. délivrer runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against désirer's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between délivrer and désirer
A purely visual mix-up. délivrer (\de.li.vʁe\) and désirer (\de.zi.ʁe\) 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 23726, 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\. désirer is at rank #13,581, tagged as averb, 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 23726, this pair ranks #350,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of délivrer vs désirer
Shared letters: deiré. Private to "délivrer": lv. Private to "désirer": s.
"délivrer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "désirer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "délivrer" for "désirer" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "délivrer" or "désirer" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "délivrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "délivrer" and "désirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirer vs désister". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #350,819 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.