platevsplatztTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#32,211
“plate” frequency rank
#14,385
“platzt” frequency rank
46596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plate platzt
Definition Teller 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs platzen

Where the eye mixes plate and platzt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. plate runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against platzt's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
plate
6 ch
platzt

Look-alike desk: plate vs platzt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plate is [pleɪt] while platzt is [plat͡st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46596, 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]. platzt is at rank #14,385, tagged as averb, pronounced [plat͡st].

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 46596, this pair ranks #1,313,685 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of plate vs platzt

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

"plate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "platzt" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plate ← lpate · palte · plaet · pllate · pltae · pplate
  • platzt ← lpatzt · paltzt · plattzt · platztt · platzzt · plaztt · pllatzt · pltazt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "plate" for "platzt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "plate" is a noun and "platzt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "plate" or "platzt" show up more?
"platzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,385 in our German list, against #32,211 for "plate". 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 "plate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "platzt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,313,685 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plate" and "platzt" 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 #1,313,685 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