Which to use
“devoid” is an adjective and “devour” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,688
- “devoid” frequency rank
- #23,239
- “devour” frequency rank
- 39927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devoid | devour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Completely without; having none of. | To eat quickly, greedily, hungrily, or ravenously. |
Where the eye mixes devoid and devour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between devoid and devour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devoid is /dɪˈvɔɪd/ while devour is /dɪˈvaʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39927, 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/. devour is at rank #23,239, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvaʊə(ɹ)/.
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 39927, this pair ranks #272,246 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devoid vs devour
Shared letters: deov. Private to "devoid": i. Private to "devour": ru.
"devoid" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "devour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "devoid" and "devour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "devoid" or "devour"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "devoid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #272,246 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devoid" and "devour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devour vs dour". 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 #272,246 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.