degasvsdevaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: degas is a verb, deva is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“degas” is a verb and “deva” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,085
“degas” frequency rank
#40,208
“deva” frequency rank
82293
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degas deva
Definition To remove the gas from. A god in Vedic mythology, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set degas and deva apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
degas
4 ch
deva

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: degas is averb and devaanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

degas is recorded at frequency rank #42,085, classified as averb. deva is at rank #40,208, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdeɪvə/.

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 82293, this pair ranks #15,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of degas vs deva

Shared letters: ade. Private to "degas": gs. Private to "deva": v.

"degas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "deva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degasddegas · deags · degass · deggas · degsa · dgeas · edgas
  • devaddeva · deav · devva · dvea · edva

Frequency comparison

degas#42,085
deva#40,208

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "degas" and "deva" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "degas" is a verb and "deva" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "degas" or "deva"?
"deva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,208 in our English list, against #42,085 for "degas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering degas vs deva

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “degas”; for a noun, it's “deva”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “degas” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list