Which to use
“desire” and “device” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,129
- “desire” frequency rank
- #43,381
- “device” frequency rank
- 71510
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desire | device |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Désir (1, 2, 3), souhait, volonté. | Dispositif, appareil. |
Where the eye mixes desire and device
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses desire with device
A purely visual mix-up. desire (\dɪ.ˈzaɪ.əʳ\) and device (\dɪˈvaɪs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desire is recorded at frequency rank #28,129, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɪ.ˈzaɪ.əʳ\. device is at rank #43,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɪˈvaɪs\.
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 71510, this pair ranks #47,314 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of desire vs device
Shared letters: dei. Private to "desire": rs. Private to "device": cv.
"desire" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "device" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "desire" and "device" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "desire" or "device"?
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 "desire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "device" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,314 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desire" and "device" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "device vs devins". 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 #47,314 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.