Which to use
“mages” and “mangues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,382
- “mages” frequency rank
- #46,283
- “mangues” frequency rank
- 67665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mages | mangues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mage. | Pluriel de mangue. |
Where the eye mixes mages and mangues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mages runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against mangues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mages with mangues
A purely visual mix-up. mages (\maʒ\) and mangues (\mɑ̃ɡ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mages is recorded at frequency rank #21,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʒ\. mangues is at rank #46,283, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃ɡ\.
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 67665, this pair ranks #62,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mages vs mangues
Shared letters: aegms. Private to "mages": -. Private to "mangues": nu.
"mages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mangues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mages" for "mangues" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mages" or "mangues" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mangues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mages" and "mangues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mangues vs manies". 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 #62,406 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.