Which to use
“pflügen” and “plagen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,382
- “pflügen” frequency rank
- #24,074
- “plagen” frequency rank
- 72456
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pflügen | plagen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit einem Pflug tätig sein | sich großen Anstrengungen unterziehen |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pflügen and plagen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. pflügen ([ˈp͡flyːɡn̩]) and plagen ([ˈplaːɡn̩]) 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 72456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pflügen is recorded at frequency rank #48,382, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈp͡flyːɡn̩]. plagen is at rank #24,074, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈplaːɡn̩].
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 72456, this pair ranks #387,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pflügen vs plagen
Shared letters: eglnp. Private to "pflügen": fü. Private to "plagen": a.
"pflügen" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC · "plagen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- plagen ← lpagen · palgen · plaegn · plagenn · plaggen · plagne · plgaen · pllagen