plantedvsplungedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,724
“planted” frequency rank
#17,209
“plunged” frequency rank
23933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature planted plunged
Definition simple past and past participle of plant simple past and past participle of plunge

Where the eye mixes planted and plunged

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
planted
7 ch
plunged

Look-alike desk: planted vs plunged

A purely visual mix-up. planted (/ˈplɑːntɪd/) and plunged (/plʌnd͡ʒd/) 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 23933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

planted is recorded at frequency rank #6,724, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈplɑːntɪd/. plunged is at rank #17,209, tagged as averb, pronounced /plʌnd͡ʒd/.

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 23933, this pair ranks #405,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of planted vs plunged

Shared letters: delnp. Private to "planted": at. Private to "plunged": gu.

"planted" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "plunged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plantedlpanted · palnted · planetd · plannted · plantde · plantedd · plantted · platned
  • plungedlpunged · pllunged · plnuged · plugned · plunegd · plungde · plungedd · plungged

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "planted" for "plunged" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈplɑːntɪd/ versus /plʌnd͡ʒd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "planted" vs "plunged" - which ranks higher?
"planted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,724 in our English list, against #17,209 for "plunged". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "planted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plunged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #405,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "planted" and "plunged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plunged vs pruned". 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 #405,728 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list