Which to use
“plagues” and “planes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,039
- “plagues” frequency rank
- #5,532
- “planes” frequency rank
- 34571
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plagues | planes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of plague | plural of plane |
Where the eye mixes plagues and planes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between plagues and planes
A purely visual mix-up. plagues (/pleɪɡz/) and planes (/pleɪnz/) 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 34571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plagues is recorded at frequency rank #29,039, classified as anoun, pronounced /pleɪɡz/. planes is at rank #5,532, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pleɪnz/.
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 34571, this pair ranks #319,642 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plagues vs planes
Shared letters: aelps. Private to "plagues": gu. Private to "planes": n.
"plagues" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "planes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plagues" and "planes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "plagues" vs "planes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "plagues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "planes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,642 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plagues" and "planes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "planes 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 #319,642 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.