Which to use
“derided” is an adjective and “devised” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,363
- “derided” frequency rank
- #13,132
- “devised” frequency rank
- 51495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | derided | devised |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Disparaged; subject to criticism or mockery. | simple past and past participle of devise |
Letter map: derided vs devised
Shared letters muted; letters that set derided and devised apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - derided and devised
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: derided is anadjective and devisedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
derided is recorded at frequency rank #38,363, classified as anadj. devised is at rank #13,132, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvaɪzd/.
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 51495, this pair ranks #164,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of derided vs devised
Shared letters: dei. Private to "derided": r. Private to "devised": sv.
"derided" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "devised" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "derided" and "devised" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "derided" or "devised"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "derided" and "devised". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "derided" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devised" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "derided" and "devised" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defiled vs derided". 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 #164,961 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.