Which to use
“deviation” and “devotion” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,119
- “deviation” frequency rank
- #10,677
- “devotion” frequency rank
- 27796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deviation | devotion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road. | The act or state of devoting or being devoted. |
Where the eye mixes deviation and devotion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: deviation vs devotion
A purely visual mix-up. deviation (/ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/) and devotion (/dɪˈvəʊʃən/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deviation is recorded at frequency rank #17,119, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/. devotion is at rank #10,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈvəʊʃən/.
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 27796, this pair ranks #376,043 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deviation vs devotion
Shared letters: deinotv. Private to "deviation": a. Private to "devotion": -.
"deviation" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC · "devotion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deviation" for "devotion" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "deviation" or "devotion" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "deviation" and "devotion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "deviation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devotion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,043 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deviation" and "devotion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demotion vs devotion". 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 #376,043 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.