Which to use
“mages” and “mate” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,499
- “mages” frequency rank
- #2,743
- “mate” frequency rank
- 48242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mages | mate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of mage | A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate. |
Where the eye mixes mages and mate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mages vs mate
A purely visual mix-up. mages (/ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/) and mate (/meɪt/) 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 48242, 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/. mate is at rank #2,743, tagged as anoun, pronounced /meɪt/.
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 48242, this pair ranks #194,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mages vs mate
Shared letters: aem. Private to "mages": gs. Private to "mate": t.
"mages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mages" and "mate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mages" or "mate"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mages" and "mate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #194,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mages" and "mate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mages vs MGS". 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 #194,924 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.