Which to use
“plagen” is a verb and “planer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,074
- “plagen” frequency rank
- #19,672
- “planer” frequency rank
- 43746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plagen | planer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich großen Anstrengungen unterziehen | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs plan |
Where the eye mixes plagen and planer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses plagen with planer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plagen is [ˈplaːɡn̩] while planer is [ˈplaːnɐ]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plagen is recorded at frequency rank #24,074, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈplaːɡn̩]. planer is at rank #19,672, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈplaːnɐ].
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 43746, this pair ranks #1,408,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plagen vs planer
Shared letters: aelnp. Private to "plagen": g. Private to "planer": r.
"plagen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "planer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "plagen" and "planer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "plagen" vs "planer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "plagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "planer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,408,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plagen" and "planer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plagen vs Planken". 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 #1,408,254 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.