desvíovsdevilWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“desvío” and “devil” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,338
“desvío” frequency rank
#36,529
“devil” frequency rank
50867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desvío devil
Definition Acción o efecto de desviar. Diablo, demonio.

Where the eye mixes desvío and devil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
desvío
5 ch
devil

Look-alike desk: desvío vs devil

A purely visual mix-up. desvío ([d̪esˈβ̞io]) and devil (/ˈdɛv.əl/) 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 50867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desvío is recorded at frequency rank #14,338, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪esˈβ̞io]. devil is at rank #36,529, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɛv.əl/.

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 50867, this pair ranks #100,899 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of desvío vs devil

Shared letters: dev. Private to "desvío": osí. Private to "devil": il.

"desvío" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devilddevil · debil · deivl · devill · devli · devvil · dveil · edvil

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "desvío" and "devil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esˈβ̞io] versus /ˈdɛv.əl/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desvío" or "devil"?
"desvío" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,338 in our Spanish list, against #36,529 for "devil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "desvío" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,899 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desvío" and "devil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Deva vs devil". 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 #100,899 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