MageevsmagesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Magee is a name, mages is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Magee” is a name and “mages” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,175
“Magee” frequency rank
#45,499
“mages” frequency rank
79674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Magee mages
Definition A surname. plural of mage

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Magee and mages apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Magee
5 ch
mages

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Magee is /məˈɡiː/ while mages is /ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “Magee” becomes s in “mages”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Magee is recorded at frequency rank #34,175, classified as aname, pronounced /məˈɡiː/. mages is at rank #45,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/.

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 79674, this pair ranks #21,521 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Magee vs mages

Shared letters: aegm. Private to "Magee": -. Private to "mages": s.

"Magee" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "mages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mageeamgee · maege · maggee · mgaee · mmagee
  • magesamges · maegs · magess · magges · magse · mgaes · mmages

Frequency comparison

Magee#34,175
mages#45,499

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Magee" and "mages" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Magee" is a name and "mages" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Magee" or "mages"?
"Magee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,175 in our English list, against #45,499 for "mages". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Magee vs mages

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Magee”; for a noun, it's “mages”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Magee” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list