DevinevsdeviseTell them apart

Quick tell: Devine is a name, devise is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Devine” is a name and “devise” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,806
“Devine” frequency rank
#22,645
“devise” frequency rank
50451
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Devine devise
Definition A surname from Irish. To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).

Letter map: Devine vs devise

Shared letters muted; letters that set Devine and devise apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
Devine
6 ch
devise

Grammar separator: Devine vs devise

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Devine is aname and deviseaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - n in “Devine” becomes s in “devise”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Devine is recorded at frequency rank #27,806, classified as aname. devise is at rank #22,645, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvaɪz/.

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 50451, this pair ranks #174,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Devine vs devise

Shared letters: deiv. Private to "Devine": n. Private to "devise": s.

"Devine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "devise" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Devineddevine · deivne · devien · devinne · devnie · devvine · dveine · edvine
  • deviseddevise · deivse · devies · devisse · devsie · devvise · dveise · edvise

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Devine" for "devise" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Devine" is a name and "devise" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Devine" vs "devise" - which ranks higher?
"devise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,645 in our English list, against #27,806 for "Devine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Devine" and "devise".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Devine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Devine" and "devise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Devine vs Devito". 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 #174,145 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list