Which to use
“devote” is a verb and “devotee” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,311
- “devote” frequency rank
- #31,509
- “devotee” frequency rank
- 45820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devote | devotee |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | to give one's time, focus one's efforts, commit oneself, etc. entirely for, on, or to a certain matter; to consecrate. | An ardent enthusiast or admirer. |
Where the eye mixes devote and devotee
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: devote vs devotee
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devote is /dɪˈvəʊt/ while devotee is /ˌdɛv.əˈtiː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “devote” sits inside “devotee”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devote is recorded at frequency rank #14,311, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvəʊt/. devotee is at rank #31,509, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɛv.əˈtiː/.
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 45820, this pair ranks #217,624 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devote vs devotee
Shared letters: deotv. Private to "devote": -. Private to "devotee": -.
"devote" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "devotee" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "devote" and "devotee" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "devote" vs "devotee" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "devote" and "devotee" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devotee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #217,624 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devote" and "devotee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devolve vs devotee". 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 #217,624 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.