devovsdivTell them apart

Quick tell: devo is a adjective, div is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devo” is an adjective and “div” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,776
“devo” frequency rank
#17,822
“div” frequency rank
57598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devo div
Definition Devastated. A function, implemented in many programming languages, that returns the result of a division of two integers.

Where the eye mixes devo and div

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
devo
3 ch
div

Visual trap between devo and div

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devo is /ˈdɛvoʊ/ while div is /ˈdɪv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devo is recorded at frequency rank #39,776, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛvoʊ/. div is at rank #17,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɪv/.

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 57598, this pair ranks #118,253 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of devo vs div

Shared letters: dv. Private to "devo": eo. Private to "div": i.

"devo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "div" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devoddevo · deov · devvo · dveo · edvo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "devo" and "div" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devo" is an adjective and "div" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "devo" or "div" show up more?
"div" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,822 in our English list, against #39,776 for "devo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "devo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "div" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,253 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devo" and "div" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Devito vs devo". 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 #118,253 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