Which to use
“devils” and “devise” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,995
- “devils” frequency rank
- #18,855
- “devise” frequency rank
- 50850
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devils | devise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs devil | Motto |
Where the eye mixes devils and devise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses devils with devise
A purely visual mix-up. devils ([devls]) and devise ([dǝ.viz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devils is recorded at frequency rank #31,995, classified as anoun, pronounced [devls]. devise is at rank #18,855, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dǝ.viz].
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 50850, this pair ranks #1,157,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devils vs devise
Shared letters: deisv. Private to "devils": l. Private to "devise": -.
"devils" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "devise" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "devils" and "devise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "devils" or "devise" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "devils" and "devise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,157,991 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devils" and "devise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devise 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 #1,157,991 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.