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Note: This post is NOT a duplicate of Are "uses" and "usage" interchangeable when talking about different meanings of the same word?, which is discussing the situation of the same word. Oppose to that, this post is discussing the situation of two words.

Per Cambridge Dictionary, the word "usage" could be used as plural. Cambridge Dictionary also gives this example.

Now these two usages are syntactically distinguished as c for the first, and c for the second.

Consider this example

Spanish and Portuguese speakers often use the preposition 'en' where in English we use both 'on' and 'in'. Two separate words with very different uses in English.

which uses "uses" to convey the meaning of "the ways we use those prepositions"

Does it mean the same if "usage" was substituted for "uses"?

Two separate words with very different "usage" in English.

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According to Lexico, usage is more like a "rule:" "Habitual or customary practice, especially as creating a right, obligation, or standard."

Now these two usages are syntactically distinguished as c for the first, and c for the second.

The "usages" above refer to syntactical "rules."


Use is more like a "possibility," so how something can be used: "the action of using something or the state of being used for some purpose."

Spanish and Portuguese speakers often use the preposition 'en' where in English we use both 'on' and 'in'. Two separate words with very different uses in English.

In this example, the "uses" just tells that en, in and on are used differently, without explaining the actual grammar rules.

You can probably use either "usages" or "uses" in both examples, but the words have different emphases.

This may help a bit: -age, as a suffix, can mean “aggregate,” for example, a track vs trackage (all tracks collectively) or use vs usage (all uses collectively as a rule).

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