Which to use
“deletion” and “devotion” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,489
- “deletion” frequency rank
- #10,677
- “devotion” frequency rank
- 32166
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deletion | devotion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An item that has been or will be deleted. | The act or state of devoting or being devoted. |
Where the eye mixes deletion and devotion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between deletion and devotion
A purely visual mix-up. deletion (/dɪˈliːʃən/) and devotion (/dɪˈvəʊʃən/) 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 32166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deletion is recorded at frequency rank #21,489, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈliːʃən/. devotion is at rank #10,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈvəʊʃən/.
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 32166, this pair ranks #340,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deletion vs devotion
Shared letters: deinot. Private to "deletion": l. Private to "devotion": v.
"deletion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "devotion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deletion" and "devotion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "deletion" or "devotion" show up more?
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 "deletion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devotion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deletion" and "devotion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deletion vs demotion". 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 #340,118 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.