devilvsdevisWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#30,561
“devil” frequency rank
#13,353
“devis” frequency rank
43914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devil devis
Definition Le Diable, Satan. Menus propos, entretien familier.

Where the eye mixes devil and devis

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

5 ch
devil
5 ch
devis

Look-alike desk: devil vs devis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devil is \ˈdɛvəl\ while devis is \də.vi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “devil” becomes s in “devis”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devil is recorded at frequency rank #30,561, classified as aname, pronounced \ˈdɛvəl\. devis is at rank #13,353, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vi\.

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 43914, this pair ranks #214,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devil vs devis

Shared letters: deiv. Private to "devil": l. Private to "devis": s.

"devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "devis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devilddevil · deivl · devill · devli · devvil · dveil · edvil
  • devisddevis · deivs · deviss · devsi · devvis · dveis · edvis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "devil" and "devis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devil" is a name and "devis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "devil" or "devis"?
"devis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,353 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "devil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #214,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devil" and "devis" 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 #214,391 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