dedicationvsdeviationConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,553
“dedication” frequency rank
#17,119
“deviation” frequency rank
24672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dedication deviation
Definition The act of dedicating or the state of being dedicated. The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road.

Where the eye mixes dedication and deviation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
dedication
9 ch
deviation

Visual trap between dedication and deviation

A purely visual mix-up. dedication (/ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/) and deviation (/ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/) 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 24672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dedication is recorded at frequency rank #7,553, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/. deviation is at rank #17,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/.

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 24672, this pair ranks #400,254 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dedication vs deviation

Shared letters: adeinot. Private to "dedication": c. Private to "deviation": v.

"dedication" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC  ·  "deviation" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dedicationddedication · ddeication · dedciation · deddication · dediaction · dedicaiton · dedicasion · dedicatino
  • deviationddeviation · deivation · devaition · deviaiton · deviasion · deviatino · deviationn · deviatoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dedication" and "deviation" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/ versus /ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dedication" vs "deviation" - which ranks higher?
"dedication" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,553 in our English list, against #17,119 for "deviation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "dedication" and "deviation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dedication" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deviation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,254 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dedication" and "deviation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deviation vs divination". 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 #400,254 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