margevsMcRaeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: marge is a noun, McRae is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“marge” is a noun and “McRae” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,155
“marge” frequency rank
#41,759
“McRae” frequency rank
67914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marge McRae
Definition Margin; edge; brink or verge. A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
marge
5 ch
McRae

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: marge is anoun and McRaeaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marge is recorded at frequency rank #26,155, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɑɹd͡ʒ/. McRae is at rank #41,759, tagged as aname.

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 67914, this pair ranks #61,235 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marge vs McRae

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "marge": g. Private to "McRae": c.

"marge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "McRae" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • margeamrge · magre · mareg · margge · marrge · mmarge · mrage
  • McRaecmrae · mcare · mccrae · mcrea · mcrrae · mmcrae · mrcae

Frequency comparison

marge#26,155
McRae#41,759

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marge" and "McRae" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marge" is a noun and "McRae" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "marge" or "McRae"?
"marge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,155 in our English list, against #41,759 for "McRae". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering marge vs McRae

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “marge”; for a name, it's “McRae”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marge” 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