Which to use
“magie” is a noun and “maigre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,622
- “magie” frequency rank
- #8,733
- “maigre” frequency rank
- 12355
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magie | maigre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Art prétendu auquel on attribue le pouvoir d’opérer, par des moyens occultes, des effets surprenants et merveilleux. | Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. |
Where the eye mixes magie and maigre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. magie runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against maigre's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between magie and maigre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: magie is \ma.ʒi\ while maigre is \mɛɡʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12355, 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\. maigre is at rank #8,733, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɛɡʁ\.
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 12355, this pair ranks #405,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of magie vs maigre
Shared letters: aegim. Private to "magie": -. Private to "maigre": r.
"magie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "magie" for "maigre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "magie" or "maigre"?
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 "magie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maigre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "magie" and "maigre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magret vs maigre". 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 #405,596 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.