devicevsDevilleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: device is a noun, Deville is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“device” is a noun and “Deville” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,381
“device” frequency rank
#27,766
“Deville” frequency rank
71147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature device Deville
Definition Dispositif, appareil. Commune française, située dans le département des Ardennes.

Letter map: device vs Deville

Shared letters muted; letters that set device and Deville apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
device
7 ch
Deville

Grammar separator: device vs Deville

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: device is anoun and Devilleaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

device is recorded at frequency rank #43,381, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɪˈvaɪs\. Deville is at rank #27,766, tagged as aname.

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 71147, this pair ranks #48,638 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of device vs Deville

Shared letters: deiv. Private to "device": c. Private to "Deville": l.

"device" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "Deville" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deviceddevice · deivce · devcie · devicce · deviec · devvice · dveice · edvice
  • Devilleddeville · deivlle · devile · devilel · devlile · devville · dveille · edville

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "device" and "Deville" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "device" is a noun and "Deville" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "device" or "Deville" show up more?
"Deville" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,766 in our French list, against #43,381 for "device". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "device" and "Deville". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "device" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Deville" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,638 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "device" and "Deville" 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 #48,638 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