Which to use
“desires” and “devices” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,006
- “desires” frequency rank
- #2,530
- “devices” frequency rank
- 9536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desires | devices |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of desire | plural of device |
Where the eye mixes desires and devices
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. desires and devices follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: desires vs devices
A purely visual mix-up. desires (/dɪˈzaɪəz/) and devices (/dəˈvaɪsɪz/) 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 9536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desires is recorded at frequency rank #7,006, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈzaɪəz/. devices is at rank #2,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dəˈvaɪsɪz/.
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 9536, this pair ranks #496,901 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of desires vs devices
Shared letters: deis. Private to "desires": r. Private to "devices": cv.
"desires" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "devices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "desires" and "devices" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "desires" or "devices"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "desires" and "devices" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "desires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #496,901 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desires" and "devices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devices vs devious". 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 #496,901 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.