Which to use
“deduce” is a verb and “demure” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,996
- “deduce” frequency rank
- #49,286
- “demure” frequency rank
- 79282
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deduce | demure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To reach (a conclusion) by applying rules of logic or other forms of reasoning to given premises or known facts. | Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious. |
Where the eye mixes deduce and demure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. deduce and demure follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between deduce and demure
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deduce is /dɪˈdʒuːs/ while demure is /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deduce is recorded at frequency rank #29,996, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈdʒuːs/. demure is at rank #49,286, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/.
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 79282, this pair ranks #22,485 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of deduce vs demure
Shared letters: deu. Private to "deduce": c. Private to "demure": mr.
"deduce" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "demure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deduce" and "demure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "deduce" or "demure"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "deduce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,485 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deduce" and "demure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defuse vs demure". 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 #22,485 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.