devervsdeveriaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,068
“dever” frequency rank
#551
“deveria” frequency rank
3619
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dever deveria
Definition obrigação primeira pessoa do futuro do pretérito do indicativo de dever;

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dever and deveria apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
dever
7 ch
deveria

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dever is /dɨ.ˈveɾ/ while deveria is [de.ve.ˈɾi.a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dever” sits inside “deveria”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dever is recorded at frequency rank #3,068, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.ˈveɾ/. deveria is at rank #551, tagged as averb, pronounced [de.ve.ˈɾi.a].

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 3619, this pair ranks #71,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dever vs deveria

Shared letters: derv. Private to "dever": -. Private to "deveria": ai.

"dever" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "deveria" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deverddever · deevr · deverr · devre · devver · dveer · edver
  • deveriaddeveria · deevria · deveira · deverai · deverria · devreia · devveria · dveeria

Frequency comparison

dever#3,068
deveria#551

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dever" and "deveria" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dever" is a noun and "deveria" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dever" or "deveria"?
"deveria" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #551 in our Portuguese list, against #3,068 for "dever". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dever vs deveria

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dever”; for a verb, it's “deveria”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dever” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list