MageevsmagicWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#34,175
“Magee” frequency rank
#1,796
“magic” frequency rank
35971
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Magee magic
Definition A surname. The application of rituals or actions, especially those based on occult knowledge, to subdue or manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces in order to have some benefit from them.

Where the eye mixes Magee and magic

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

5 ch
Magee
5 ch
magic

Why the eye confuses Magee with magic

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Magee is /məˈɡiː/ while magic is /ˈmad͡ʒɪk/. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35971, 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/. magic is at rank #1,796, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmad͡ʒɪk/.

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 35971, this pair ranks #307,335 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Magee vs magic

Shared letters: agm. Private to "Magee": e. Private to "magic": ci.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mageeamgee · maege · maggee · mgaee · mmagee
  • magicamgic · magci · maggic · magicc · maigc · mgaic · mmagic

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Magee" and "magic" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Magee" is a name and "magic" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Magee" or "magic"?
"magic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,796 in our English list, against #34,175 for "Magee". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Magee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "magic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,335 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Magee" and "magic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Magee vs Marne". 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 #307,335 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list