magicvsmariWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,769
“magic” frequency rank
#29,234
“mari” frequency rank
39003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magic mari
Definition Magie, Zauberei, Zauberkunst Ehemann, Gatte, Gemahl, Gespons

Where the eye mixes magic and mari

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
magic
4 ch
mari

Look-alike desk: magic vs mari

A purely visual mix-up. magic ([mæd͡ʒɪk]) and mari ([ma.ʁi]) 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 39003, 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]. mari is at rank #29,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ma.ʁi].

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 39003, this pair ranks #1,548,788 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of magic vs mari

Shared letters: aim. Private to "magic": cg. Private to "mari": r.

"magic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mari" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magicamgic · magci · maggic · magicc · maigc · mgaic · mmagic
  • mariamri · mair · marri · mmari · mrai

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "magic" and "mari" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mæd͡ʒɪk] versus [ma.ʁi]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "magic" or "mari" show up more?
"magic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,769 in our German list, against #29,234 for "mari". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "magic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mari" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,548,788 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "magic" and "mari" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mari vs mora". 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 #1,548,788 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