Which to use
“ages” is a noun and “Alex” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,682
- “ages” frequency rank
- #3,635
- “Alex” frequency rank
- 52317
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ages | Alex |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs age | männlicher Vorname |
Where the eye mixes ages and Alex
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ages and Alex follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: ages vs Alex
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ages is [ˈeɪdʒɪz] while Alex is [ˈaːlɛks]. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ages is recorded at frequency rank #48,682, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeɪdʒɪz]. Alex is at rank #3,635, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈaːlɛks].
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 52317, this pair ranks #1,101,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ages vs Alex
Shared letters: ae. Private to "ages": gs. Private to "Alex": lx.
"ages" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "Alex" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ages" for "Alex" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ages" vs "Alex" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Alex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,101,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ages" and "Alex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ages vs avis". 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 #1,101,489 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.