Which to use
“devil” and “devils” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,506
- “devil” frequency rank
- #31,995
- “devils” frequency rank
- 63501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devil | devils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Teufel | Plural des Substantivs devil |
Where the eye mixes devil and devils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: devil vs devils
A purely visual mix-up. devil ([devl]) and devils ([devls]) 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 extra letter(s) - “devil” sits inside “devils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devil is recorded at frequency rank #31,506, classified as anoun, pronounced [devl]. devils is at rank #31,995, tagged as anoun, pronounced [devls].
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 63501, this pair ranks #674,572 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devil vs devils
Shared letters: deilv. Private to "devil": -. Private to "devils": s.
"devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "devils" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devil" for "devils" ever safe?
Frequency check: "devil" vs "devils" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "devil" and "devils" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #674,572 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devil" and "devils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devil vs devot". 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 #674,572 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.