devavsdevsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,208
“deva” frequency rank
#33,614
“devs” frequency rank
73822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deva devs
Definition A god in Vedic mythology, Hinduism and Buddhism. plural of dev

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set deva and devs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
deva
4 ch
devs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. deva (/ˈdeɪvə/) and devs (/dɛvz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “deva” becomes s in “devs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deva is recorded at frequency rank #40,208, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdeɪvə/. devs is at rank #33,614, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛvz/.

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 73822, this pair ranks #38,291 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deva vs devs

Shared letters: dev. Private to "deva": a. Private to "devs": s.

"deva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "devs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devaddeva · deav · devva · dvea · edva
  • devsddevs · desv · devss · devvs · dves · edvs

Frequency comparison

deva#40,208
devs#33,614

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deva" and "devs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdeɪvə/ versus /dɛvz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deva" or "devs"?
"devs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,614 in our English list, against #40,208 for "deva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering deva vs devs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “deva” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list