Which to use
“demure” is an adjective and “deuce” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,286
- “demure” frequency rank
- #31,135
- “deuce” frequency rank
- 80421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demure | deuce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious. | A card with two pips, one of four in a standard deck of playing cards. |
Where the eye mixes demure and deuce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. demure runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against deuce's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses demure with deuce
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demure is /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/ while deuce is /djuːs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
demure is recorded at frequency rank #49,286, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/. deuce is at rank #31,135, tagged as anoun, pronounced /djuːs/.
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 80421, this pair ranks #19,830 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of demure vs deuce
Shared letters: deu. Private to "demure": mr. Private to "deuce": c.
"demure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "deuce" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "demure" and "deuce" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "demure" or "deuce" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "demure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deuce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,830 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demure" and "deuce" 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 #19,830 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.