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 eye mixes deva and devs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. deva (CVCV) and devs (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between deva and devs
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deva" for "devs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "deva" vs "devs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "deva" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,291 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deva" and "devs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derp vs deva". 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 #38,291 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.