Which to use
“magus” and “mucus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,600
- “magus” frequency rank
- #23,915
- “mucus” frequency rank
- 70515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magus | mucus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A magician; (derogatory) a conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster. | A slippery secretion from the lining of the mucous membranes. |
Where the eye mixes magus and mucus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. magus and mucus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses magus with mucus
A purely visual mix-up. magus (/ˈmeɪɡəs/) and mucus (/ˈmjuːkəs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70515, 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/. mucus is at rank #23,915, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmjuːkəs/.
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 70515, this pair ranks #50,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of magus vs mucus
Shared letters: msu. Private to "magus": ag. Private to "mucus": c.
"magus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mucus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "magus" for "mucus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "magus" vs "mucus" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "magus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mucus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "magus" and "mucus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magus vs MGS". 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 #50,283 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.