Which to use
“defile” is a verb and “devil” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,153
- “defile” frequency rank
- #4,296
- “devil” frequency rank
- 48449
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defile | devil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil. | The chief devil; Satan. |
Where the eye mixes defile and devil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between defile and devil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: defile is /dɪˈfaɪl/ while devil is /ˈdɛvəl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defile is recorded at frequency rank #44,153, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈfaɪl/. devil is at rank #4,296, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈdɛvəl/.
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 48449, this pair ranks #192,963 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of defile vs devil
Shared letters: deil. Private to "defile": f. Private to "devil": v.
"defile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "defile" and "devil" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "defile" vs "devil" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "defile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #192,963 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defile" and "devil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defile vs defiled". 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 #192,963 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.