Which to use
“maggot” and “maggots” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,029
- “maggot” frequency rank
- #34,973
- “maggots” frequency rank
- 73002
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maggot | maggots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipteran insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter. | plural of maggot |
Where the eye mixes maggot and maggots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. maggot runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against maggots's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maggot with maggots
A purely visual mix-up. maggot (/ˈmæɡət/) and maggots (/ˈmæɡəts/) 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 extra letter(s) - “maggot” sits inside “maggots”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maggot is recorded at frequency rank #38,029, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmæɡət/. maggots is at rank #34,973, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmæɡəts/.
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 73002, this pair ranks #41,065 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maggot vs maggots
Shared letters: agmot. Private to "maggot": -. Private to "maggots": s.
"maggot" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "maggots" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maggot" for "maggots" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maggot" vs "maggots" - 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 "maggot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maggots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,065 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maggot" and "maggots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maggot vs Margo". 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 #41,065 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.