plagenvsPlanetWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#24,074
“plagen” frequency rank
#6,703
“Planet” frequency rank
30777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plagen Planet
Definition sich großen Anstrengungen unterziehen nicht selbst leuchtender runder Himmelskörper, der sich um einen Stern bewegt und seine Umlaufbahn freigeräumt hat

Where the eye mixes plagen and Planet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
plagen
6 ch
Planet

Look-alike desk: plagen vs Planet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plagen is [ˈplaːɡn̩] while Planet is [plaˈneːt]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30777, 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]. Planet is at rank #6,703, tagged as anoun, pronounced [plaˈneːt].

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 30777, this pair ranks #1,741,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of plagen vs Planet

Shared letters: aelnp. Private to "plagen": g. Private to "Planet": t.

"plagen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Planet" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plagenlpagen · palgen · plaegn · plagenn · plaggen · plagne · plgaen · pllagen
  • Planetlpanet · palnet · plaent · planett · plannet · pllanet · plnaet · pplanet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plagen" and "Planet" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "plagen" is a verb and "Planet" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "plagen" vs "Planet" - which ranks higher?
"Planet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,703 in our German list, against #24,074 for "plagen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "plagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Planet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,741,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plagen" and "Planet" 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 #1,741,276 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