Which to use
“mage” and “mug” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,491
- “mage” frequency rank
- #31,613
- “mug” frequency rank
- 52104
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mage | mug |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prêtre de la religion de Zoroastre, chez les Perses et les Mèdes. | Grande tasse dont la forme et la capacité rappellent une chope. |
Where the eye mixes mage and mug
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mage and mug
A purely visual mix-up. mage (\maʒ\) and mug (\mœɡ\) 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 52104, 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\. mug is at rank #31,613, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mœɡ\.
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 52104, this pair ranks #150,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mage vs mug
Shared letters: gm. Private to "mage": ae. Private to "mug": u.
"mage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mug" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mage ← amge · maeg · magge · mgae · mmage
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mage" and "mug" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "mage" or "mug" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "mug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mage" and "mug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mug vs MWh". 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 #150,145 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.