daemonvsdemonWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“daemon” and “demon” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,511
“daemon” frequency rank
#6,458
“demon” frequency rank
42969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature daemon demon
Definition A minor deity or divinity. An evil supernatural being.

Same sound, different letters: daemon vs demon

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.

6 ch
daemon
5 ch
demon

Ear matches; page differs - daemon and demon

This is the hard kind. daemon and demon are pronounced identically (/ˈdiː.mən/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

daemon is recorded at frequency rank #36,511, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdiː.mən/. demon is at rank #6,458, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdiː.mən/.

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 42969, this pair ranks #244,432 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of daemon vs demon

Shared letters: demno. Private to "daemon": a. Private to "demon": -.

"daemon" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "demon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • daemonademon · daemmon · daemno · daemonn · daeomn · dameon · ddaemon · deamon
  • demonddemon · demmon · demno · demonn · deomn · dmeon · edmon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "daemon" for "demon" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (/ˈdiː.mən/), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "daemon" vs "demon" - which ranks higher?
"demon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,458 in our English list, against #36,511 for "daemon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "daemon" / "demon". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "daemon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "demon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244,432 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "daemon" and "demon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demean vs demon". 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 #244,432 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list