debavsDevaTell them apart

Quick tell: deba is a verb, Deva is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deba” is a verb and “Deva” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,944
“deba” frequency rank
#49,578
“Deva” frequency rank
55522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deba Deva
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de deber. Apellido.

Same sound, different letters: deba vs Deva

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. deba and Deva follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
deba
4 ch
Deva

Ear matches; page differs - deba and Deva

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: deba and Deva carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈd̪eβ̞a]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other aname, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - b in “deba” becomes v in “Deva”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deba is recorded at frequency rank #5,944, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞a]. Deva is at rank #49,578, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞a].

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 55522, this pair ranks #78,490 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deba vs Deva

Shared letters: ade. Private to "deba": b. Private to "Deva": v.

"deba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Deva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deba ← dbea · ddeba · deab · debba · edba
  • Deva ← ddeva · deav · devva · dvea · edva

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deba" and "Deva" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deba" is a verb and "Deva" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deba" or "Deva"?
"deba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,944 in our Spanish list, against #49,578 for "Deva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "deba" / "Deva". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Deva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,490 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deba" and "Deva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deli vs Deva". 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 #78,490 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list