Which to use
“diverge” and “divulge” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,692
- “diverge” frequency rank
- #31,518
- “divulge” frequency rank
- 67210
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | diverge | divulge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions. | To make public or known; to communicate to the public; to tell (information, especially a secret) so that it may become generally known. |
Where the eye mixes diverge and divulge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. diverge and divulge follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses diverge with divulge
A purely visual mix-up. diverge (/daɪˈvɜːd͡ʒ/) and divulge (/daɪˈvʌld͡ʒ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
diverge is recorded at frequency rank #35,692, classified as averb, pronounced /daɪˈvɜːd͡ʒ/. divulge is at rank #31,518, tagged as averb, pronounced /daɪˈvʌld͡ʒ/.
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 67210, this pair ranks #64,408 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of diverge vs divulge
Shared letters: degiv. Private to "diverge": r. Private to "divulge": lu.
"diverge" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "divulge" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "diverge" for "divulge" ever safe?
Frequency check: "diverge" vs "divulge" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "diverge" and "divulge" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "diverge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "divulge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,408 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "diverge" and "divulge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diverge vs divergent". 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 #64,408 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.