deviezvsdevilWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,966
“deviez” frequency rank
#30,561
“devil” frequency rank
56527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deviez devil
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de devoir. Le Diable, Satan.

Where the eye mixes deviez and devil

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

6 ch
deviez
5 ch
devil

Look-alike desk: deviez vs devil

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deviez is \də.vje\ while devil is \ˈdɛvəl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deviez is recorded at frequency rank #25,966, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vje\. devil is at rank #30,561, tagged as aname, pronounced \ˈdɛvəl\.

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 56527, this pair ranks #120,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of deviez vs devil

Shared letters: deiv. Private to "deviez": z. Private to "devil": l.

"deviez" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deviezddeviez · deivez · deveiz · deviezz · devize · devviez · dveiez · edviez
  • devilddevil · deivl · devill · devli · devvil · dveil · edvil

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deviez" and "devil" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deviez" is a verb and "devil" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deviez" or "devil"?
"deviez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,966 in our French list, against #30,561 for "devil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "deviez" and "devil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deviez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deviez" and "devil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs devil". 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 #120,565 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