English homophones
plain/plane
"plane" (#1,958 written frequency) beats "plain" (#3,446) in this 2-word /pleɪn/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /pleɪn/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "plane" leads at #1,958, with "plain" trailing at #3,446.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "pla" then splits - "plain" (5 letters) vs "plane" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across plain, plane: alnp. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
plain
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVVC
Inventory ailnp · private i
plane
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVCV
Inventory aelnp · private e
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "plain" when you mean: Flat, level.
- Write "plane" when you mean: Of a surface: flat or level.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (plain, plane). Here's where to go from here.
- "plane" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #1,958 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: packs · pax. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "plain, plane" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.