devaisvsDevauxTell them apart

Quick tell: devais is a verb, Devaux is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devais” is a verb and “Devaux” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,910
“devais” frequency rank
#49,019
“Devaux” frequency rank
52929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devais Devaux
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devoir. Nom de famille

Where the eye mixes devais and Devaux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
devais
6 ch
Devaux

Look-alike desk: devais vs Devaux

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devais is \də.vɛ\ while Devaux is \de.vo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devais is recorded at frequency rank #3,910, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\. Devaux is at rank #49,019, tagged as aname, pronounced \de.vo\.

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 52929, this pair ranks #144,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devais vs Devaux

Shared letters: adev. Private to "devais": is. Private to "Devaux": ux.

"devais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "Devaux" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devaisddevais · deavis · devaiss · devasi · devias · devvais · dveais · edvais
  • Devauxddevaux · deavux · devauxx · devaxu · devuax · devvaux · dveaux · edvaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "devais" and "Devaux" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devais" is a verb and "Devaux" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "devais" vs "Devaux" - which ranks higher?
"devais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,910 in our French list, against #49,019 for "Devaux". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "devais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Devaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #144,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devais" and "Devaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Delvaux vs Devaux". 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 #144,293 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