Which to use
“magically” and “marginally” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,129
- “magically” frequency rank
- #20,995
- “marginally” frequency rank
- 39124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magically | marginally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a magical manner; by magic, or as if by magic. | In a marginal manner, or to a marginal extent; barely sufficiently; slightly. |
Where the eye mixes magically and marginally
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. magically runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCV) against marginally's 10 (CVCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses magically with marginally
A purely visual mix-up. magically (/ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪ.kli/) and marginally (/ˈmɑɹd͡ʒɪnəli/) 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 39124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
magically is recorded at frequency rank #18,129, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪ.kli/. marginally is at rank #20,995, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmɑɹd͡ʒɪnəli/.
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 39124, this pair ranks #279,597 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of magically vs marginally
Shared letters: agilmy. Private to "magically": c. Private to "marginally": nr.
"magically" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV · "marginally" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- magically ← amgically · magcially · maggically · magiaclly · magicallyy · magicaly · magicalyl · magiccally
- marginally ← amrginally · magrinally · margginally · margianlly · marginallyy · marginaly · marginalyl · marginlaly
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "magically" and "marginally" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "magically" or "marginally"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "magically" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marginally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #279,597 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "magically" and "marginally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magically vs musically". 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 #279,597 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.