deluxevsdemureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“deluxe” and “demure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,837
“deluxe” frequency rank
#49,286
“demure” frequency rank
60123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deluxe demure
Definition Very fine in quality or luxurious. Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.

Where the eye mixes deluxe and demure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. deluxe and demure follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
deluxe
6 ch
demure

Look-alike desk: deluxe vs demure

A purely visual mix-up. deluxe (/dəˈlʌks/) and demure (/dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/) 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 60123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deluxe is recorded at frequency rank #10,837, classified as anadj, pronounced /dəˈlʌks/. demure is at rank #49,286, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/.

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 60123, this pair ranks #102,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deluxe vs demure

Shared letters: deu. Private to "deluxe": lx. Private to "demure": mr.

"deluxe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "demure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deluxe ← ddeluxe · delluxe · deluex · deluxxe · delxue · deulxe · dleuxe · edluxe
  • demure ← ddemure · demmure · demrue · demuer · demurre · deumre · dmeure · edmure

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deluxe" and "demure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dəˈlʌks/ versus /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deluxe" or "demure"?
"deluxe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,837 in our English list, against #49,286 for "demure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "deluxe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "demure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deluxe" and "demure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defuse vs demure". 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 #102,049 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list