devilvsdevosConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#30,561
“devil” frequency rank
#40,210
“devos” frequency rank
70771
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devil devos
Definition Le Diable, Satan. Futur de devi.

Where the eye mixes devil and devos

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

5 ch
devil
5 ch
devos

Look-alike desk: devil vs devos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devil is \ˈdɛvəl\ while devos is \ˈde.vos\. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70771, 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\. devos is at rank #40,210, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈde.vos\.

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 70771, this pair ranks #50,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of devil vs devos

Shared letters: dev. Private to "devil": il. Private to "devos": os.

"devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "devos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devilddevil · deivl · devill · devli · devvil · dveil · edvil
  • devosddevos · deovs · devoss · devso · devvos · dveos · edvos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "devil" and "devos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devil" is a name and "devos" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "devil" or "devos"?
"devil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,561 in our French list, against #40,210 for "devos". 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 "devos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devil" and "devos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devins vs devos". 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 #50,094 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