plundervsplungesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,534
“plunder” frequency rank
#37,160
“plunges” frequency rank
62694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plunder plunges
Definition To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack. third-person singular simple present indicative of plunge

Letter map: plunder vs plunges

Shared letters muted; letters that set plunder and plunges apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. plunder and plunges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
plunder
7 ch
plunges

Spelling & dictionary notes on plunder vs plunges

plunder and plunges are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plunder is recorded at frequency rank #25,534, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈplʌndə/. plunges is at rank #37,160, tagged as averb.

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 62694, this pair ranks #87,042 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of plunder vs plunges

Shared letters: elnpu. Private to "plunder": dr. Private to "plunges": gs.

"plunder" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "plunges" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plunder ← lpunder · pllunder · plnuder · pludner · plundder · plunderr · plundre · plunedr
  • plunges ← lpunges · pllunges · plnuges · plugnes · plunegs · plungess · plungges · plungse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plunder" and "plunges" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "plunder" or "plunges"?
"plunder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,534 in our English list, against #37,160 for "plunges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "plunder" and "plunges". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "plunder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plunges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,042 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plunder" and "plunges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plunges vs prunes". 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 #87,042 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