Which to use
“magic” and “margin” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,796
- “magic” frequency rank
- #4,537
- “margin” frequency rank
- 6333
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magic | margin |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | The edge of the paper, typically left blank when printing but sometimes used for annotations etc. |
Where the eye mixes magic and margin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. magic (/ˈmad͡ʒɪk/) and margin (/ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪn/) 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 6333, 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/. margin is at rank #4,537, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪn/.
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 6333, this pair ranks #511,848 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of magic vs margin
Shared letters: agim. Private to "magic": c. Private to "margin": nr.
"magic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "margin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC