Which to use
“defile” and “devise” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,153
- “defile” frequency rank
- #22,645
- “devise” frequency rank
- 66798
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defile | devise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil. | To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something). |
Where the eye mixes defile and devise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses defile with devise
A purely visual mix-up. defile (/dɪˈfaɪl/) and devise (/dɪˈvaɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66798, 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/. devise is at rank #22,645, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvaɪz/.
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 66798, this pair ranks #66,324 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of defile vs devise
Shared letters: dei. Private to "defile": fl. Private to "devise": sv.
"defile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "devise" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "defile" and "devise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "defile" or "devise" show up more?
What to do next
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 "devise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,324 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defile" and "devise" 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 #66,324 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.