placesvsplagenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,412
“places” frequency rank
#24,074
“plagen” frequency rank
67486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature places plagen
Definition Plural des Substantivs place sich großen Anstrengungen unterziehen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set places and plagen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
places
6 ch
plagen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: places is [ˈpleɪsɪz] while plagen is [ˈplaːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

places is recorded at frequency rank #43,412, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpleɪsɪz]. 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 67486, this pair ranks #538,641 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of places vs plagen

Shared letters: aelp. Private to "places": cs. Private to "plagen": gn.

"places" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "plagen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • placeslpaces · palces · placces · placess · placse · plaecs · plcaes · pllaces
  • plagenlpagen · palgen · plaegn · plagenn · plaggen · plagne · plgaen · pllagen

Frequency comparison

places#43,412
plagen#24,074

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "places" and "plagen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "places" is a noun and "plagen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "places" or "plagen"?
"plagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,074 in our German list, against #43,412 for "places". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering places vs plagen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “places”; for a verb, it's “plagen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “places” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list