bedevil
[bɪˈdɛvəɫ]
"bedevil" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bedevil” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To harass or cause trouble for; to plague.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bedevil · bedevil · English
bedevil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bedevil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [bɪˈdɛvəɫ] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bedevil” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bedevil is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [bɪˈdɛvəɫ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for bedevil, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From be- + devil. The correct English form is bedevil, spelled B-E-D-E-V-I-L.
Definition
- 1To harass or cause trouble for; to plague.
- 2To perplex or bewilder.
- 3To possess (someone's mind).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bedevil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Guerrilla attacks continued to bedevil the larger army's supply routes.
Mr. Levi may have been bedeviled by buried conflicts unrelated to Auschwitz.
Etymology
From be- + devil.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.