magusvsmaruWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“magus” and “maru” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,600
“magus” frequency rank
#33,730
“maru” frequency rank
80330
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magus maru
Definition A magician; (derogatory) a conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster. A Japanese ship, especially a merchant ship.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set magus and maru apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
magus
4 ch
maru

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. magus (/ˈmeɪɡəs/) and maru (/ˈmɑːɹuː/) 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 80330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magus is recorded at frequency rank #46,600, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪɡəs/. maru is at rank #33,730, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑːɹuː/.

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 80330, this pair ranks #20,045 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of magus vs maru

Shared letters: amu. Private to "magus": gs. Private to "maru": r.

"magus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "maru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magusamgus · maggus · magsu · maguss · maugs · mgaus · mmagus
  • maruamru · marru · maur · mmaru · mrau

Frequency comparison

magus#46,600
maru#33,730

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "magus" and "maru" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmeɪɡəs/ versus /ˈmɑːɹuː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "magus" or "maru"?
"maru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,730 in our English list, against #46,600 for "magus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering magus vs maru

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “magus” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list