pflegtvsplagtTell them apart

Which to use

“pflegt” and “plagt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,339
“pflegt” frequency rank
#41,394
“plagt” frequency rank
51733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pflegt plagt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs pflegen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs plagen

Where the eye mixes pflegt and plagt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pflegt runs 6 letters (CCCVCC) against plagt's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pflegt
5 ch
plagt

Look-alike desk: pflegt vs plagt

A purely visual mix-up. pflegt ([p͡fleːkt]) and plagt ([plaːkt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pflegt is recorded at frequency rank #10,339, classified as averb, pronounced [p͡fleːkt]. plagt is at rank #41,394, tagged as averb, pronounced [plaːkt].

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 51733, this pair ranks #1,124,124 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pflegt vs plagt

Shared letters: glpt. Private to "pflegt": ef. Private to "plagt": a.

"pflegt" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "plagt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pflegt ← fplegt · pfelgt · pfflegt · pfleggt · pflegtt · pfletg · pflget · pfllegt
  • plagt ← lpagt · palgt · plaggt · plagtt · platg · plgat · pllagt · pplagt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pflegt" and "plagt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([p͡fleːkt] versus [plaːkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pflegt" or "plagt"?
"pflegt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,339 in our German list, against #41,394 for "plagt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pflegt" and "plagt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pflegt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plagt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,124,124 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pflegt" and "plagt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plagt vs plants". 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 #1,124,124 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