Which to use
“decide” is a verb and “devine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,555
- “decide” frequency rank
- #10,485
- “devine” frequency rank
- 41040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decide | devine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Décider. | Variante de devineresse. |
Where the eye mixes decide and devine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: decide vs devine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decide is \dɪˈsɑɪd\ while devine is \də.vin\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
decide is recorded at frequency rank #30,555, classified as averb, pronounced \dɪˈsɑɪd\. devine is at rank #10,485, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vin\.
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 41040, this pair ranks #236,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decide vs devine
Shared letters: dei. Private to "decide": c. Private to "devine": nv.
"decide" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "devine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "decide" for "devine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "decide" vs "devine" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "decide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decide" and "devine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs decide". 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 #236,003 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.