plate
/ˈpleɪ̯t/
"plate" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“plate” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,751. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #2,751
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
Corpus desk
Index EN-plate · plate · English
plate · rank #2,751 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,751
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH personality
Nearest frequency peer: personality (-1 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 “plate”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Pakistan
Pakistan
97,253 corpus weight
- panel
panel
97,252 corpus weight
- personality
personality
97,251 corpus weight
- plate
plate
97,250 corpus weight
- practices
practices
97,249 corpus weight
- prepare
prepare
97,248 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “plate” 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 | plate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpleɪ̯t/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,751 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “plate” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around plate (IPA /ˈpleɪ̯t/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,751 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 37 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for plate, with forms such as "lpate", "palte", and "plaet". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "play", "plot", "prat", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
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". The correct English form is plate, spelled P-L-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
- 2Such dishes collectively.
- 3The contents of such a dish.
- 4A course at a meal.
- 5An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities
- 6A flat object of uniform thickness.
- 7Vehicle license plates, registration plates.
- 8A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.
- 9Plate armor.
- 10A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating
- 11A material covered with such a layer.
- 12An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated.
- 13A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.
- 14An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.
- 15An image or copy.
- 16An illustration in a book, either black and white, or colour, usually on a page of paper of different quality from the text pages.
- 17A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.
- 18A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.
- 19A person's foot.
- 20Home plate.
- 21A tectonic plate.
- 22Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.
- 23A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.
- 24The anode of a vacuum tube.
- 25A prize given to the winner in a contest.
- 26Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.
- 27A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code.
- 28The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline.
- 29A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture.
- 30One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.
- 31A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.
- 32Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
- 33The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.
- 34A record, usually vinyl.
- 35trauma plate.
- 36Any of the potential romantic or sexual partners with whom a person keeps in touch as part of plate spinning.
- 37A Lego piece that is thin, 1/3 the height of a brick, and has studs on top.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how plate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I filled my plate from the bountiful table.
A valuable collection of silver plate was donated to the museum.
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
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plate - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "plate"?
What does "plate" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "plate"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "plate", 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 (6 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "plate". Here's where to go from here.
- "plate" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "play". View pair
- 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #2,751 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.