peaksvsplaysTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#46,906
“peaks” frequency rank
#18,658
“plays” frequency rank
65564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peaks plays
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs peak Plural des Substantivs play

Letter map: peaks vs plays

Shared letters muted; letters that set peaks and plays apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
peaks
5 ch
plays

Role in the sentence - peaks and plays

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: peaks is averb and playsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peaks is recorded at frequency rank #46,906, classified as averb, pronounced […]. plays is at rank #18,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pleɪs].

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 65564, this pair ranks #602,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peaks vs plays

Shared letters: aps. Private to "peaks": ek. Private to "plays": ly.

"peaks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "plays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peaksepaks · paeks · peakks · peakss · peask · pekas · ppeaks
  • playslpays · palys · plasy · playss · playys · pllays · plyas · pplays

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "peaks" and "plays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "peaks" is a verb and "plays" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "peaks" or "plays"?
"plays" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,658 in our German list, against #46,906 for "peaks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "peaks" and "plays".

  • Full dictionary entry for "peaks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #602,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peaks" and "plays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peaks vs puzzles". 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 #602,484 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list