divinevsdraineWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: divine is a adjective, draine is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“divine” is an adjective and “draine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,286
“divine” frequency rank
#44,427
“draine” frequency rank
50713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature divine draine
Definition Féminin singulier de divin. Grive draine.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set divine and draine apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
divine
6 ch
draine

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: divine is \di.vin\ while draine is \dʁɛn\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

divine is recorded at frequency rank #6,286, classified as anadj, pronounced \di.vin\. draine is at rank #44,427, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʁɛn\.

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 50713, this pair ranks #160,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of divine vs draine

Shared letters: dein. Private to "divine": v. Private to "draine": ar.

"divine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "draine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • divineddivine · diivne · divien · divinne · divnie · divvine · dviine · idvine
  • drainedarine · ddraine · draien · drainne · dranie · driane · drraine · rdaine

Frequency comparison

divine#6,286
draine#44,427

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "divine" and "draine" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "divine" is an adjective and "draine" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "divine" or "draine"?
"divine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,286 in our French list, against #44,427 for "draine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering divine vs draine

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “divine”; for a noun, it's “draine”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “divine” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list