Which to use
“plucked” is a verb and “plugged” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,068
- “plucked” frequency rank
- #16,304
- “plugged” frequency rank
- 39372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plucked | plugged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pluck | Wearing a buttplug. |
Where the eye mixes plucked and plugged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: plucked vs plugged
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plucked is /plʌkt/ while plugged is /plʌɡd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plucked is recorded at frequency rank #23,068, classified as averb, pronounced /plʌkt/. plugged is at rank #16,304, tagged as anadj, pronounced /plʌɡd/.
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 39372, this pair ranks #277,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plucked vs plugged
Shared letters: delpu. Private to "plucked": ck. Private to "plugged": g.
"plucked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "plugged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "plucked" for "plugged" ever safe?
Frequency check: "plucked" vs "plugged" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "plucked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plugged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plucked" and "plugged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plucked vs plucky". 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 #277,313 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.