Which to use
“devil” is a noun and “devot” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,506
- “devil” frequency rank
- #45,851
- “devot” frequency rank
- 77357
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devil | devot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Teufel | mit einer unterwürfigen Haltung |
Where the eye mixes devil and devot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses devil with devot
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devil is [devl] while devot is [deˈvoːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77357, 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]. devot is at rank #45,851, tagged as anadj, pronounced [deˈvoːt].
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 77357, this pair ranks #262,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of devil vs devot
Shared letters: dev. Private to "devil": il. Private to "devot": ot.
"devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "devot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devil" for "devot" ever safe?
Frequency check: "devil" vs "devot" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "devil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #262,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devil" and "devot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devot vs devote". 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 #262,579 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.