plank
/ˈplæŋk/
"plank" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“plank” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,884. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,884
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A long, broad and thick piece of timber, as opposed to a board which is less thick.
Corpus desk
Index EN-plank · plank · English
plank · rank #15,884 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #15,884
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH pierced
Nearest frequency peer: pierced (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “plank”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- permitting
permitting
84,122 corpus weight
- Picasso
Picasso
84,120 corpus weight
- pierced
pierced
84,119 corpus weight
- plank
plank
84,117 corpus weight
- plight
plight
84,115 corpus weight
- postseason
postseason
84,113 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “plank” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | plank |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈplæŋk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #15,884 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “plank” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around plank (IPA /ˈplæŋk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,884 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for plank, with forms such as "lpank", "palnk", and "plakn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "play", "punk", "plat", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English plank, planke, borrowed from Old French planke, Old Northern French planque (compare French planche, from Old French planche), from Vulgar Latin planca, from palanca, from Latin phalanga. The Latin term derives from the Ancient Greek φάλ… The correct English form is plank, spelled P-L-A-N-K.
Definition
- 1A long, broad and thick piece of timber, as opposed to a board which is less thick.
- 2A political issue that is of concern to a faction or a party of the people and the political position that is taken on that issue.
- 3Physical exercise in which one holds a pushup position for a measured length of time.
- 4A stupid person, idiot.
- 5That which supports or upholds.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how plank appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Germanization was a central plank of German conservative thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries.
When Mr. Dole had been asked at the Republican convention about the same immigration amendment—one of the more conservative and sensitive planks—he did not oppose it, but said he would have to think long and hard before supporting it.
Etymology
From Middle English plank, planke, borrowed from Old French planke, Old Northern French planque (compare French planche, from Old French planche), from Vulgar Latin planca, from palanca, from Latin phalanga. The Latin term derives from the Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx), so it is thus a doublet of phalange and phalanx. Compare also the doublets planch and planche, and plancha, borrowed later from Middle French, Modern French, and Spanish, respectively.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- lpank
- palnk
- plakn
- plankk
- plannk
- pllank
- plnak
- pplank
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plank - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "plank", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "plank". Here's where to go from here.
- "plank" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "play". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #15,884 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.