Which to use
“magic” and “mail” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,796
- “magic” frequency rank
- #1,952
- “mail” frequency rank
- 3748
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magic | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | A bag or wallet. |
Where the eye mixes magic and mail
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: magic vs mail
A purely visual mix-up. magic (/ˈmad͡ʒɪk/) and mail (/meɪl/) 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 3748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
magic is recorded at frequency rank #1,796, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmad͡ʒɪk/. mail is at rank #1,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced /meɪl/.
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 3748, this pair ranks #521,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of magic vs mail
Shared letters: aim. Private to "magic": cg. Private to "mail": l.
"magic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "magic" and "mail" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "magic" vs "mail" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "magic" and "mail" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "magic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mail" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #521,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "magic" and "mail" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mail vs marl". 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 #521,119 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.