Which to use
“devastating” is an adjective and “devastation” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,920
- “devastating” frequency rank
- #18,538
- “devastation” frequency rank
- 27458
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devastating | devastation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causing devastation. | The act of devastating, or the state of being devastated; a laying waste. |
Letter map: devastating vs devastation
Shared letters muted; letters that set devastating and devastation apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.
Role in the sentence - devastating and devastation
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: devastating is anadjective and devastationanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devastating is recorded at frequency rank #8,920, classified as anadj. devastation is at rank #18,538, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃən/.
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 27458, this pair ranks #378,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devastating vs devastation
Shared letters: adeinstv. Private to "devastating": g. Private to "devastation": o.
"devastating" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC · "devastation" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devastating ← ddevastating · deavstating · devasatting · devasstating · devastaitng · devastatign · devastatingg · devastatinng
- devastation ← ddevastation · deavstation · devasattion · devasstation · devastaiton · devastasion · devastatino · devastationn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "devastating" and "devastation" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "devastating" or "devastation" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "devastating" and "devastation".
- Full dictionary entry for "devastating" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devastation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devastating" and "devastation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devaluation vs devastation". 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 #378,754 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.