demyvsdevConfusable pair

Quick tell: demy is a noun, dev is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“demy” is a noun and “dev” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,209
“demy” frequency rank
#15,608
“dev” frequency rank
55817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demy dev
Definition Récipiendaire d'une bourse d'études au Magdalen College de l'université d'Oxford. Forme mutée de tev par adoucissement (t → d).

Letter map: demy vs dev

Shared letters muted; letters that set demy and dev apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
demy
3 ch
dev

Part-of-speech tell for demy / dev

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: demy is anoun and devanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demy is recorded at frequency rank #40,209, classified as anoun. dev is at rank #15,608, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈdew\.

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 55817, this pair ranks #125,048 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of demy vs dev

Shared letters: de. Private to "demy": my. Private to "dev": v.

"demy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dev" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demyddemy · demmy · demyy · deym · dmey · edmy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "demy" and "dev" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demy" is a noun and "dev" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "demy" or "dev"?
"dev" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,608 in our French list, against #40,209 for "demy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "demy" and "dev".

  • Full dictionary entry for "demy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dev" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,048 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demy" and "dev" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demy vs dray". 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 #125,048 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list