magesvsmanusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mages” and “manus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,499
“mages” frequency rank
#33,726
“manus” frequency rank
79225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mages manus
Definition plural of mage A hand, as the part of the fore limb below the forearm in a human, or the corresponding part in other vertebrates.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mages and manus apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
mages
5 ch
manus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mages (/ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/) and manus (/ˈmeɪnəs/) 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 79225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mages is recorded at frequency rank #45,499, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/. manus is at rank #33,726, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪnəs/.

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 79225, this pair ranks #22,624 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mages vs manus

Shared letters: ams. Private to "mages": eg. Private to "manus": nu.

"mages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "manus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magesamges · maegs · magess · magges · magse · mgaes · mmages
  • manusamnus · mannus · mansu · manuss · mauns · mmanus · mnaus

Frequency comparison

mages#45,499
manus#33,726

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mages" and "manus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/ versus /ˈmeɪnəs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mages" or "manus"?
"manus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,726 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 mages vs manus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mages” 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