Which to use
“agent” and “agony” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,622
- “agent” frequency rank
- #12,904
- “agony” frequency rank
- 14526
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | agent | agony |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who exerts power, or has the power to act. | Extreme pain. |
Where the eye mixes agent and agony
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses agent with agony
A purely visual mix-up. agent (/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒənt/) and agony (/ˈæɡ.ə.ni/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
agent is recorded at frequency rank #1,622, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒənt/. agony is at rank #12,904, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæɡ.ə.ni/.
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 14526, this pair ranks #469,490 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of agent vs agony
Shared letters: agn. Private to "agent": et. Private to "agony": oy.
"agent" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "agony" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "agent" and "agony" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "agent" vs "agony" - 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 "agent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "agony" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #469,490 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "agent" and "agony" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aeon vs agony". 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 #469,490 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.