Which to use
“devoid” is an adjective and “devoted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,688
- “devoid” frequency rank
- #5,318
- “devoted” frequency rank
- 22006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devoid | devoted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Completely without; having none of. | simple past and past participle of devote |
Where the eye mixes devoid and devoted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between devoid and devoted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devoid is /dɪˈvɔɪd/ while devoted is /dɪˈvəʊtəd/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devoid is recorded at frequency rank #16,688, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈvɔɪd/. devoted is at rank #5,318, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvəʊtəd/.
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 22006, this pair ranks #419,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devoid vs devoted
Shared letters: deov. Private to "devoid": i. Private to "devoted": t.
"devoid" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "devoted" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "devoid" and "devoted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "devoid" or "devoted" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "devoid" and "devoted" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devoid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devoted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devoid" and "devoted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devoid vs Devos". 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 #419,757 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.