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plate

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "plate", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "plate" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "plate" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

plate is aEnglishnoun. It means: A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten. Pronounced /ˈpleɪ̯t/. It ranks #2,751 in English word frequency. Often confused with play and plot.

Key facts for plate
PropertyValue
Headwordplate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpleɪ̯t/
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,751
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of plate in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for plate is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpleɪ̯t/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,751 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 37 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for plate, with forms such as "lpate", "palte", and "plaet". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "play", "plot", "prat", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet". Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is plate, spelled P-L-A-T-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
  2. 2
    Such dishes collectively.
  3. 3
    The contents of such a dish.
  4. 4
    A course at a meal.
  5. 5
    An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities
  6. 6
    A flat object of uniform thickness.
  7. 7
    Vehicle license plates, registration plates.
  8. 8
    A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.
  9. 9
    Plate armor.
  10. 10
    A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating
  11. 11
    A material covered with such a layer.
  12. 12
    An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated.
  13. 13
    A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.
  14. 14
    An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.
  15. 15
    An image or copy.
  16. 16
    An illustration in a book, either black and white, or colour, usually on a page of paper of different quality from the text pages.
  17. 17
    A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.
  18. 18
    A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.
  19. 19
    A person's foot.
  20. 20
    Home plate.
  21. 21
    A tectonic plate.
  22. 22
    Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.
  23. 23
    A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.
  24. 24
    The anode of a vacuum tube.
  25. 25
    A prize given to the winner in a contest.
  26. 26
    Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.
  27. 27
    A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code.
  28. 28
    The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline.
  29. 29
    A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture.
  30. 30
    One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.
  31. 31
    A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.
  32. 32
    Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
  33. 33
    The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.
  34. 34
    A record, usually vinyl.
  35. 35
    trauma plate.
  36. 36
    Any of the potential romantic or sexual partners with whom a person keeps in touch as part of plate spinning.
  37. 37
    A Lego piece that is thin, 1/3 the height of a brick, and has studs on top.

Etymology

From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet".

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: lpate,palte,plaet,pllate,pltae,pplate

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for plate

Misspelling Variants of "plate"

lpate5palte5plaet5pllate6pltae5pplate6
Misspelling Variants of "plate"

Frequency rank: #2,751 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "plate"?
"plate" is spelled P-L-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpleɪ̯t/.
What does "plate" mean?
As a noun, "plate" means: A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
What words are commonly confused with "plate"?
"plate" is commonly confused with "play", "plot", "prat". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "plate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "plate" is /ˈpleɪ̯t/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "plate"?
From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "fe... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.