Which to use
“plagen” and “prägen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,074
- “plagen” frequency rank
- #11,728
- “prägen” frequency rank
- 35802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plagen | prägen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich großen Anstrengungen unterziehen | mit einer bildlichen Darstellung, einem oder mehreren Schriftzeichen, Symbolen oder einem Muster jedweder Art versehen, wobei durch Druck mit dazu angemessenen Werkzeugen oder Maschinen der Oberfläche von tauglichem Material – wie beispielsweise Metall, Papier, Leder – reliefartig eine bestimmte Form gegeben wird |
Where the eye mixes plagen and prägen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. plagen and prägen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between plagen and prägen
A purely visual mix-up. plagen ([ˈplaːɡn̩]) and prägen ([ˈpʁɛːɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35802, 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]. prägen is at rank #11,728, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpʁɛːɡn̩].
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 35802, this pair ranks #1,631,162 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of plagen vs prägen
Shared letters: egnp. Private to "plagen": al. Private to "prägen": rä.
"plagen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "prägen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- plagen ← lpagen · palgen · plaegn · plagenn · plaggen · plagne · plgaen · pllagen
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plagen" and "prägen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "plagen" or "prägen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "plagen" and "prägen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "plagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prägen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,631,162 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plagen" and "prägen" 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 #1,631,162 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.