magmavsmigraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“magma” and “migra” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,379
“magma” frequency rank
#49,795
“migra” frequency rank
90174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magma migra
Definition Materia rocosa en estado líquido que compone el interior de la Tierra y otros planetas Cuerpo de los agentes de inmigración de la frontera de Estados Unidos.

Where the eye mixes magma and migra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. magma and migra follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
magma
5 ch
migra

Why the eye confuses magma with migra

A purely visual mix-up. magma ([ˈmaɣ̞ma]) and migra ([ˈmiɣ̞ɾa]) 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 90174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magma is recorded at frequency rank #40,379, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɣ̞ma]. migra is at rank #49,795, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmiɣ̞ɾa].

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 90174, this pair ranks #2,667 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of magma vs migra

Shared letters: agm. Private to "magma": -. Private to "migra": ir.

"magma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "migra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magma ← amgma · magam · maggma · magmma · mamga · mgama · mmagma
  • migra ← imgra · mgira · migar · miggra · mirga · mmigra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "magma" and "migra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɣ̞ma] versus [ˈmiɣ̞ɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "magma" or "migra" show up more?
"magma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,379 in our Spanish list, against #49,795 for "migra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "magma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "migra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,667 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "magma" and "migra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "migra vs minga". 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 #2,667 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list