Which to use
“magie” and “mai” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,622
- “magie” frequency rank
- #466
- “mai” frequency rank
- 4088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magie | mai |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Art prétendu auquel on attribue le pouvoir d’opérer, par des moyens occultes, des effets surprenants et merveilleux. | Cinquième mois de l’année dans le calendrier grégorien, placé entre avril et juin, et qui dure 31 jours. |
Where the eye mixes magie and mai
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses magie with mai
A purely visual mix-up. magie (\ma.ʒi\) and mai (\mɛ\) 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 4088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
magie is recorded at frequency rank #3,622, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʒi\. mai is at rank #466, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛ\.
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 4088, this pair ranks #432,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of magie vs mai
Shared letters: aim. Private to "magie": eg. Private to "mai": -.
"magie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- magie ← amgie · magei · maige · mgaie · mmagie
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "magie" and "mai" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "magie" or "mai"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "magie" and "mai" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "magie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "magie" and "mai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magie vs maid". 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 #432,493 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.