Which to use
“dem” is an article and “deve” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,268
- “dem” frequency rank
- #182
- “deve” frequency rank
- 7450
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dem | deve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o, ao, do, artigo definido masculino do caso dativo singular | terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo dever |
Letter map: dem vs deve
Shared letters muted; letters that set dem and deve apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - dem and deve
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dem is anarticle and deveaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dem is recorded at frequency rank #7,268, classified as anarticle, pronounced /deːm/. deve is at rank #182, tagged as averb.
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 7450, this pair ranks #66,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dem vs deve
Shared letters: de. Private to "dem": m. Private to "deve": v.
"dem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "deve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- deve ← ddeve · deev · devve · dvee · edve
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dem" for "deve" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dem" vs "deve" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dem" and "deve".
- Full dictionary entry for "dem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dem" and "deve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dem". 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 #66,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.