Which to use
“demie” and “devise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,492
- “demie” frequency rank
- #7,050
- “devise” frequency rank
- 13542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demie | devise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Demi-heure. Note d’usage : On dit de une heure et demie à onze heures et demie, mais rarement les autres (sinon midi, ou minuit, et demi, qui ne sont plus de la même forme). | Figure accompagnée d’une phrase exprimant d’une manière allégorique et brève quelque pensée, quelque sentiment. |
Where the eye mixes demie and devise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: demie vs devise
A purely visual mix-up. demie (\də.mi\) and devise (\də.viz\) 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 13542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
demie is recorded at frequency rank #6,492, classified as anoun, pronounced \də.mi\. devise is at rank #7,050, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.viz\.
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 13542, this pair ranks #400,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of demie vs devise
Shared letters: dei. Private to "demie": m. Private to "devise": sv.
"demie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "devise" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "demie" and "devise" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "demie" or "devise"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "demie" and "devise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "demie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demie" and "devise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs demie". 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 #400,571 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.