partvsplotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“part” and “plot” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#162
“part” frequency rank
#2,588
“plot” frequency rank
2750
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature part plot
Definition A portion; a component. The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.

Where the eye mixes part and plot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
part
4 ch
plot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. part (/pɑːt/) and plot (/plɒt/) 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 2750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

part is recorded at frequency rank #162, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːt/. plot is at rank #2,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced /plɒt/.

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 2750, this pair ranks #524,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of part vs plot

Shared letters: pt. Private to "part": ar. Private to "plot": lo.

"part" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "plot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partaprt · parrt · partt · patr · ppart
  • plotlpot · pllot · plott · plto · polt · pplot

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "part" and "plot" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɑːt/ versus /plɒt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "part" or "plot"?
"part" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #162 in our English list, against #2,588 for "plot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "part" and "plot". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "part" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #524,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "part" and "plot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piet vs plot". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list