Which to use
“delay” and “deva” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,618
- “delay” frequency rank
- #40,208
- “deva” frequency rank
- 43826
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delay | deva |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity. | A god in Vedic mythology, Hinduism and Buddhism. |
Where the eye mixes delay and deva
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between delay and deva
A purely visual mix-up. delay (/dɪˈleɪ/) and deva (/ˈdeɪvə/) 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 43826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delay is recorded at frequency rank #3,618, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈleɪ/. 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 43826, this pair ranks #236,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delay vs deva
Shared letters: ade. Private to "delay": ly. Private to "deva": v.
"delay" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "deva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "delay" and "deva" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "delay" or "deva"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "delay" and "deva" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "delay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delay" and "deva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derp vs deva". 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 #236,327 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.