Which to use
“deuil” and “devils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,652
- “deuil” frequency rank
- #24,930
- “devils” frequency rank
- 30582
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deuil | devils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Affliction, douleur qu’on éprouve lors du décès de quelqu’un, ou suite à une autre perte importante. | Pluriel de devil. |
Where the eye mixes deuil and devils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses deuil with devils
A purely visual mix-up. deuil (\dœj\) and devils (\ˈdɛv.əlz\) 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 30582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deuil is recorded at frequency rank #5,652, classified as anoun, pronounced \dœj\. devils is at rank #24,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdɛv.əlz\.
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 30582, this pair ranks #309,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deuil vs devils
Shared letters: deil. Private to "deuil": u. Private to "devils": sv.
"deuil" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "devils" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "deuil" and "devils" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "deuil" or "devils"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "deuil" and "devils" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "deuil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #309,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deuil" and "devils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devils 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 #309,333 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.