magicvsmagieTell them apart

Which to use

“magic” and “magie” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,769
“magic” frequency rank
#7,363
“magie” frequency rank
17132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magic magie
Definition Magie, Zauberei, Zauberkunst Magie f

Where the eye mixes magic and magie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
magic
5 ch
magie

Why the eye confuses magic with magie

A purely visual mix-up. magic ([mæd͡ʒɪk]) and magie ([ma.ʒi]) 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 a single letter - c in “magic” becomes e in “magie”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magic is recorded at frequency rank #9,769, classified as anoun, pronounced [mæd͡ʒɪk]. magie is at rank #7,363, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ma.ʒi].

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 17132, this pair ranks #1,930,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of magic vs magie

Shared letters: agim. Private to "magic": c. Private to "magie": e.

"magic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "magie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magicamgic · magci · maggic · magicc · maigc · mgaic · mmagic
  • magieamgie · magei · maggie · maige · mgaie · mmagie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "magic" for "magie" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([mæd͡ʒɪk] versus [ma.ʒi]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "magic" vs "magie" - which ranks higher?
"magie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,363 in our German list, against #9,769 for "magic". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "magic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "magie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,930,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "magic" and "magie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magie vs Matze". 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 #1,930,093 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list