margevsmargoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: marge is a noun, margo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“marge” is a noun and “margo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,410
“marge” frequency rank
#41,889
“margo” frequency rank
45299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marge margo
Definition Lisière ; bord ; périphérie. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de margar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set marge and margo apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
marge
5 ch
margo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marge is \maʁʒ\ while margo is \ˈmaɾ.gu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “marge” becomes o in “margo”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marge is recorded at frequency rank #3,410, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁʒ\. margo is at rank #41,889, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈmaɾ.gu\.

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 45299, this pair ranks #203,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marge vs margo

Shared letters: agmr. Private to "marge": e. Private to "margo": o.

"marge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "margo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • margeamrge · magre · mareg · margge · marrge · mmarge · mrage
  • margoamrgo · magro · marggo · marog · marrgo · mmargo · mrago

Frequency comparison

marge#3,410
margo#41,889

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marge" and "margo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marge" is a noun and "margo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "marge" or "margo"?
"marge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,410 in our French list, against #41,889 for "margo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering marge vs margo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “marge”; for a verb, it's “margo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marge” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list