PflugvsplugConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,226
“Pflug” frequency rank
#19,006
“plug” frequency rank
52232
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pflug plug
Definition landwirtschaftliches Gerät zum Auflockern und Wenden des Ackerbodens Stöpsel

Where the eye mixes Pflug and plug

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

5 ch
Pflug
4 ch
plug

Why the eye confuses Pflug with plug

A purely visual mix-up. Pflug ([p͡fluːk]) and plug ([plʌɡ]) 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 52232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pflug is recorded at frequency rank #33,226, classified as anoun, pronounced [p͡fluːk]. plug is at rank #19,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced [plʌɡ].

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 52232, this pair ranks #1,104,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pflug vs plug

Shared letters: glpu. Private to "Pflug": f. Private to "plug": -.

"Pflug" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "plug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pflug ← fplug · pfflug · pflgu · pfllug · pflugg · pfulg · plfug · ppflug
  • plug ← lpug · plgu · pllug · plugg · pplug · pulg

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pflug" and "plug" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([p͡fluːk] versus [plʌɡ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pflug" vs "plug" - which ranks higher?
"plug" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,006 in our German list, against #33,226 for "Pflug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pflug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,104,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pflug" and "plug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pflug vs pflügen". 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 #1,104,898 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