Which to use
“outage” and “outrage” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,727
- “outage” frequency rank
- #9,075
- “outrage” frequency rank
- 29802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | outage | outrage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A temporary suspension of operation, especially of electrical power supply. | An excessively violent or vicious attack; an atrocity. |
Where the eye mixes outage and outrage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. outage runs 6 letters (VVCVCV) against outrage's 7 (VVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses outage with outrage
A purely visual mix-up. outage (/ˈaʊ.tɪd͡ʒ/) and outrage (/ˈaʊt.ɹeɪd͡ʒ/) 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 29802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
outage is recorded at frequency rank #20,727, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊ.tɪd͡ʒ/. outrage is at rank #9,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊt.ɹeɪd͡ʒ/.
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 29802, this pair ranks #359,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of outage vs outrage
Shared letters: aegotu. Private to "outage": -. Private to "outrage": r.
"outage" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV · "outrage" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "outage" and "outrage" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "outage" or "outrage"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "outage" and "outrage" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "outage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outrage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "outage" and "outrage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Otago vs outage". 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 #359,884 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.