the devil
"the-devil" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“the devil” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Used to add emphasis to a question or statement.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | the devil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “the devil” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for the devil is 9 letters long, classified as an adverb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Used to add emphasis to a question or statement.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for the devil, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is the devil, spelled T-H-E- -D-E-V-I-L.
Definition
- 1Used to add emphasis to a question or statement.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “the devil”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-H-E- -D-E-V-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.