Which to use
“phage” and “plague” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,841
- “phage” frequency rank
- #8,468
- “plague” frequency rank
- 52309
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | phage | plague |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A virus that is parasitic on bacteria. | The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis. |
Where the eye mixes phage and plague
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. phage runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against plague's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses phage with plague
A purely visual mix-up. phage (/feɪd͡ʒ/) and plague (/pleɪɡ/) 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 52309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
phage is recorded at frequency rank #43,841, classified as anoun, pronounced /feɪd͡ʒ/. plague is at rank #8,468, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pleɪɡ/.
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 52309, this pair ranks #158,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of phage vs plague
Shared letters: aegp. Private to "phage": h. Private to "plague": lu.
"phage" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "plague" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "phage" and "plague" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "phage" or "plague"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "phage" and "plague" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "phage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plague" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "phage" and "plague" 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 #158,192 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.