platevsPlatzWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,211
“plate” frequency rank
#319
“Platz” frequency rank
32530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plate Platz
Definition Teller weitläufige, offene Fläche, die als Betätigungs-, Erholungs- Veranstaltungs- oder Versammlungsort dient

Where the eye mixes plate and Platz

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

5 ch
plate
5 ch
Platz

Why the eye confuses plate with Platz

A purely visual mix-up. plate ([pleɪt]) and Platz ([plat͡s]) 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 a single letter - e in “plate” becomes z in “Platz”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plate is recorded at frequency rank #32,211, classified as anoun, pronounced [pleɪt]. Platz is at rank #319, tagged as anoun, pronounced [plat͡s].

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 32530, this pair ranks #1,705,640 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of plate vs Platz

Shared letters: alpt. Private to "plate": e. Private to "Platz": z.

"plate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Platz" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • platelpate · palte · plaet · pllate · pltae · pplate
  • Platzlpatz · paltz · plattz · platzz · plazt · pllatz · pltaz · pplatz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plate" and "Platz" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pleɪt] versus [plat͡s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "plate" or "Platz" show up more?
"Platz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #319 in our German list, against #32,211 for "plate". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "plate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Platz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,705,640 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plate" and "Platz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plants vs plate". 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 #1,705,640 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