deepvsdeviConfusable pair

Quick tell: deep is a adjective, devi is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deep” is an adjective and “devi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,646
“deep” frequency rank
#47,301
“devi” frequency rank
59947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deep devi
Definition profundo dever, ter obrigação de, ter que

Where the eye mixes deep and devi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
deep
4 ch
devi

Visual trap between deep and devi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deep is /diːp/ while devi is /ˈde.vi/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deep is recorded at frequency rank #12,646, classified as anadj, pronounced /diːp/. devi is at rank #47,301, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈde.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 59947, this pair ranks #7,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deep vs devi

Shared letters: de. Private to "deep": p. Private to "devi": iv.

"deep" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "devi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deepddeep · deepp · dep · depe · edep
  • deviddevi · deiv · devvi · dvei · edvi

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deep" and "devi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deep" is an adjective and "devi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deep" or "devi"?
"deep" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,646 in our Portuguese list, against #47,301 for "devi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deep" and "devi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devi vs device". 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 #7,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list