magovsmusgoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,140
“mago” frequency rank
#34,691
“musgo” frequency rank
42831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mago musgo
Definition Persona que practica la magia. Vegetal de la división de las briofitas, donde el gametofito es la generación dominante. Prolifera en lugares húmedos y sombríos, sobre todo en piedras y troncos de árboles, el suelo, inclusive en agua, sea estancada o corriente.

Where the eye mixes mago and musgo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mago
5 ch
musgo

Why the eye confuses mago with musgo

A purely visual mix-up. mago ([ˈmaɣ̞o]) and musgo ([ˈmusɣ̞o]) 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 42831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mago is recorded at frequency rank #8,140, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɣ̞o]. musgo is at rank #34,691, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmusɣ̞o].

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 42831, this pair ranks #146,056 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mago vs musgo

Shared letters: gmo. Private to "mago": a. Private to "musgo": su.

"mago" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "musgo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magoamgo · maggo · maog · mgao · mmago
  • musgommusgo · msugo · mugso · musggo · musog · mussgo · umsgo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mago" and "musgo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɣ̞o] versus [ˈmusɣ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mago" vs "musgo" - which ranks higher?
"mago" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,140 in our Spanish list, against #34,691 for "musgo". 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 "mago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "musgo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #146,056 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mago" and "musgo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mingo vs musgo". 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 #146,056 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