Which to use
“places” and “plagues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #998
- “places” frequency rank
- #29,039
- “plagues” frequency rank
- 30037
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | places | plagues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of place | plural of plague |
Where the eye mixes places and plagues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. places runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against plagues's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: places vs plagues
A purely visual mix-up. places (/ˈpleɪsɪz/) and plagues (/pleɪɡz/) 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 30037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
places is recorded at frequency rank #998, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpleɪsɪz/. plagues is at rank #29,039, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pleɪɡz/.
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 30037, this pair ranks #357,880 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of places vs plagues
Shared letters: aelps. Private to "places": c. Private to "plagues": gu.
"places" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "plagues" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "places" for "plagues" ever safe?
Which is more common, "places" or "plagues"?
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 "places" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plagues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,880 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "places" and "plagues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "places vs plies". 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 #357,880 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.