deansvsDevosConfusable pair

Quick tell: deans is a noun, Devos is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deans” is a noun and “Devos” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,744
“deans” frequency rank
#39,777
“Devos” frequency rank
66521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deans Devos
Definition plural of dean A surname from Dutch.

Letter map: deans vs Devos

Shared letters muted; letters that set deans and Devos apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. deans (CVVCC) and Devos (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
deans
5 ch
Devos

Grammar separator: deans vs Devos

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: deans is anoun and Devosaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deans is recorded at frequency rank #26,744, classified as anoun, pronounced /diːnz/. Devos is at rank #39,777, tagged as aname.

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 66521, this pair ranks #67,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deans vs Devos

Shared letters: des. Private to "deans": an. Private to "Devos": ov.

"deans" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Devos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deans ← ddeans · deanns · deanss · deasn · denas · edans
  • Devos ← ddevos · deovs · devoss · devso · devvos · dveos · edvos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "deans" for "Devos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deans" is a noun and "Devos" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "deans" vs "Devos" - which ranks higher?
"deans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,744 in our English list, against #39,777 for "Devos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "deans" vs "Devos" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Devos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deans" and "Devos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depose vs Devos". 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 #67,602 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