Which to use
“devs” and “doves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,614
- “devs” frequency rank
- #25,361
- “doves” frequency rank
- 58975
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devs | doves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dev | plural of dove |
Where the eye mixes devs and doves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. devs runs 4 letters (CVCC) against doves's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between devs and doves
A purely visual mix-up. devs (/dɛvz/) and doves (/dʌvz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devs is recorded at frequency rank #33,614, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛvz/. doves is at rank #25,361, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dʌvz/.
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 58975, this pair ranks #109,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of devs vs doves
Shared letters: desv. Private to "devs": -. Private to "doves": o.
"devs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "doves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devs" for "doves" ever safe?
Frequency check: "devs" vs "doves" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "devs" and "doves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devs" and "doves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derp vs devs". 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 #109,072 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.