PlanvsplaysConfusable pair

Which to use

“Plan” and “plays” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,167
“Plan” frequency rank
#18,658
“plays” frequency rank
19825
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Plan plays
Definition ein durchdachtes Vorhaben, eine Idee oder Vorstellung einer Vorgehensweise Plural des Substantivs play

Where the eye mixes Plan and plays

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Plan
5 ch
plays

Look-alike desk: Plan vs plays

A purely visual mix-up. Plan ([plaːn]) and plays ([pleɪs]) 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 19825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Plan is recorded at frequency rank #1,167, classified as anoun, pronounced [plaːn]. plays is at rank #18,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pleɪs].

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 19825, this pair ranks #1,904,184 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Plan vs plays

Shared letters: alp. Private to "Plan": n. Private to "plays": sy.

"Plan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "plays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Planlpan · paln · plann · pllan · plna · pplan
  • playslpays · palys · plasy · playss · playys · pllays · plyas · pplays

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Plan" and "plays" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([plaːn] versus [pleɪs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Plan" or "plays"?
"Plan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,167 in our German list, against #18,658 for "plays". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Plan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,904,184 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Plan" and "plays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plants vs plays". 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 #1,904,184 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