Which to use
“plague” and “plagues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,468
- “plague” frequency rank
- #29,039
- “plagues” frequency rank
- 37507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plague | plagues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis. | plural of plague |
Where the eye mixes plague and plagues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. plague runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against plagues's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: plague vs plagues
A purely visual mix-up. plague (/pleɪɡ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “plague” sits inside “plagues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plague is recorded at frequency rank #8,468, classified as anoun, pronounced /pleɪɡ/. 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 37507, this pair ranks #293,970 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plague vs plagues
Shared letters: aeglpu. Private to "plague": -. Private to "plagues": s.
"plague" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "plagues" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plague" and "plagues" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "plague" or "plagues"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "plague" 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 #293,970 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plague" and "plagues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "phage vs plague". 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 #293,970 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.