Which to use
“agency” and “agent” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,116
- “agency” frequency rank
- #8,163
- “agent” frequency rank
- 27279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | agency | agent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vertretung, Agentur, Büro, Dienststelle, Stellvertretung | eine Sache oder auch Person, die etwas Bestimmtes bewirkt |
Where the eye mixes agency and agent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses agency with agent
A purely visual mix-up. agency ([eɪdʒənsɪ]) and agent ([eɪdʒənt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
agency is recorded at frequency rank #19,116, classified as anoun, pronounced [eɪdʒənsɪ]. agent is at rank #8,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced [eɪdʒənt].
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 27279, this pair ranks #1,804,359 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of agency vs agent
Shared letters: aegn. Private to "agency": cy. Private to "agent": t.
"agency" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "agent" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "agency" for "agent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "agency" vs "agent" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "agency" and "agent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "agency" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "agent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,804,359 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "agency" and "agent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "agent vs ages". 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 #1,804,359 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.