nagervsnagesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,541
“nager” frequency rank
#35,613
“nages” frequency rank
46154
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nager nages
Definition Se déplacer dans l'eau (pour un être vivant) par le mouvement de certaines parties du corps. Pluriel de nage.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
nager
5 ch
nages

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nager is \na.ʒe\ while nages is \naʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “nager” becomes s in “nages”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nager is recorded at frequency rank #10,541, classified as averb, pronounced \na.ʒe\. nages is at rank #35,613, tagged as anoun, pronounced \naʒ\.

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 46154, this pair ranks #197,173 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nager vs nages

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "nager": r. Private to "nages": s.

"nager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "nages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nageranger · naegr · nagerr · nagger · nagre · ngaer · nnager
  • nagesnaegs · nagess · nagges · nagse · ngaes · nnages

Frequency comparison

nager#10,541
nages#35,613

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nager" and "nages" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nager" is a verb and "nages" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nager" or "nages"?
"nager" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,541 in our French list, against #35,613 for "nages". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nager vs nages

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “nager”; for a noun, it's “nages”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nager” 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