Which to use
“dedicate” and “deviate” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,733
- “dedicate” frequency rank
- #26,751
- “deviate” frequency rank
- 41484
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dedicate | deviate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate. | To go off course from; to change course; to change plans. |
Where the eye mixes dedicate and deviate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dedicate and deviate
A purely visual mix-up. dedicate (/ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/) and deviate (/ˈdiː.vi.eɪt/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dedicate is recorded at frequency rank #14,733, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/. deviate is at rank #26,751, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdiː.vi.eɪt/.
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 41484, this pair ranks #257,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dedicate vs deviate
Shared letters: adeit. Private to "dedicate": c. Private to "deviate": v.
"dedicate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "deviate" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dedicate" and "deviate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dedicate" vs "deviate" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dedicate" and "deviate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dedicate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deviate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dedicate" and "deviate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deviate vs Devito". 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 #257,956 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.