Which to use
“deviation” and “divination” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,119
- “deviation” frequency rank
- #33,207
- “divination” frequency rank
- 50326
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deviation | divination |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road. | The act of divining; a foreseeing or foretelling of future events. |
Where the eye mixes deviation and divination
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between deviation and divination
A purely visual mix-up. deviation (/ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/) and divination (/ˌdɪvɪˈneɪʃən/) 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 50326, 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/. divination is at rank #33,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɪvɪˈneɪʃən/.
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 50326, this pair ranks #175,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deviation vs divination
Shared letters: adinotv. Private to "deviation": e. Private to "divination": -.
"deviation" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC · "divination" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- deviation ← ddeviation · deivation · devaition · deviaiton · deviasion · deviatino · deviationn · deviatoin
- divination ← ddivination · diivnation · diviantion · divinaiton · divinasion · divinatino · divinationn · divinatoin
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deviation" and "divination" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "deviation" or "divination"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "deviation" and "divination" 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 "divination" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deviation" and "divination" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deflation vs deviation". 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 #175,330 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.