deuilvsdevinConfusable pair

Which to use

“deuil” and “devin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,652
“deuil” frequency rank
#20,977
“devin” frequency rank
26629
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deuil devin
Definition Affliction, douleur qu’on éprouve lors du décès de quelqu’un, ou suite à une autre perte importante. Homme qui prétend prédire les évènements qui arriveront et découvrir les choses cachées.

Where the eye mixes deuil and devin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
deuil
5 ch
devin

Why the eye confuses deuil with devin

A purely visual mix-up. deuil (\dœj\) and devin (\də.vɛ̃\) 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 26629, 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\. devin is at rank #20,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vɛ̃\.

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 26629, this pair ranks #333,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deuil vs devin

Shared letters: dei. Private to "deuil": lu. Private to "devin": nv.

"deuil" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "devin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deuilddeuil · deiul · deuill · deuli · dueil · eduil
  • devinddevin · deivn · devinn · devni · devvin · dvein · edvin

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deuil" and "devin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dœj\ versus \də.vɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deuil" or "devin"?
"deuil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,652 in our French list, against #20,977 for "devin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "deuil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #333,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deuil" and "devin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs devin". 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 #333,792 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