devevsdivaTell them apart

Quick tell: deve is a verb, diva is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deve” is a verb and “diva” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#182
“deve” frequency rank
#12,655
“diva” frequency rank
12837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deve diva
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo dever deusa, divindade

Letter map: deve vs diva

Shared letters muted; letters that set deve and diva apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
deve
4 ch
diva

Grammar separator: deve vs diva

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: deve is averb and divaanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deve is recorded at frequency rank #182, classified as averb. diva is at rank #12,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdi.vɐ/.

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 12837, this pair ranks #59,639 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deve vs diva

Shared letters: dv. Private to "deve": e. Private to "diva": ai.

"deve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "diva" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deveddeve · deev · devve · dvee · edve
  • divaddiva · diav · divva · dvia · idva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "deve" for "diva" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deve" is a verb and "diva" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deve" or "diva"?
"deve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #182 in our Portuguese list, against #12,655 for "diva". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "deve" and "diva".

  • Full dictionary entry for "deve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,639 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deve" and "diva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dink vs diva". 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 #59,639 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