Which to use
“mage” and “maid” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,491
- “mage” frequency rank
- #49,778
- “maid” frequency rank
- 70269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mage | maid |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prêtre de la religion de Zoroastre, chez les Perses et les Mèdes. | Servant·e, bonne, soubrette, généralement une femme. |
Where the eye mixes mage and maid
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mage (CVCV) and maid (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses mage with maid
A purely visual mix-up. mage (\maʒ\) and maid (\med\) 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 70269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mage is recorded at frequency rank #20,491, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʒ\. maid is at rank #49,778, tagged as anoun, pronounced \med\.
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 70269, this pair ranks #51,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mage vs maid
Shared letters: am. Private to "mage": eg. Private to "maid": di.
"mage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "maid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mage" and "maid" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mage" vs "maid" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maid" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mage" and "maid" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mud". 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 #51,996 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.