Which to use
“pages” and “phage” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,402
- “pages” frequency rank
- #43,841
- “phage” frequency rank
- 46243
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pages | phage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of page | A virus that is parasitic on bacteria. |
Where the eye mixes pages and phage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pages and phage
A purely visual mix-up. pages (/ˈpeɪd͡ʒɪz/) and phage (/feɪd͡ʒ/) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pages is recorded at frequency rank #2,402, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪd͡ʒɪz/. phage is at rank #43,841, tagged as anoun, pronounced /feɪd͡ʒ/.
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 46243, this pair ranks #213,620 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pages vs phage
Shared letters: aegp. Private to "pages": s. Private to "phage": h.
"pages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "phage" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pages" and "phage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pages" or "phage"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "phage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #213,620 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pages" and "phage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pape vs phage". 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 #213,620 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.