Which to use
“devil” and “Duval” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,561
- “devil” frequency rank
- #15,857
- “Duval” frequency rank
- 46418
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devil | Duval |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le Diable, Satan. | Nom de famille. |
Where the eye mixes devil and Duval
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between devil and Duval
A purely visual mix-up. devil (\ˈdɛvəl\) and Duval (\dy.val\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46418, 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\. Duval is at rank #15,857, tagged as aname, pronounced \dy.val\.
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 46418, this pair ranks #195,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devil vs Duval
Shared letters: dlv. Private to "devil": ei. Private to "Duval": au.
"devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Duval" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devil" for "Duval" ever safe?
Which is more common, "devil" or "Duval"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "devil" and "Duval" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Duval" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devil" and "Duval" 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 #195,103 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.