power play

noun

"power-play" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“power play” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tactics used to magnify power or influence.

Key facts for power play
PropertyValue
Headwordpower play
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “power play” sits in English frequency

power play falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

power play is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

power play doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is power play, spelled P-O-W-E-R- -P-L-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Tactics used to magnify power or influence.
  2. 2
    A strategy or maneuver with a similar intention.
  3. 3
    A situation where a team has a numerical advantage on the ice due to one or more penalties given to the opposing team.
  4. 4
    A similar situation in other ball games, such as lacrosse, indoor soccer, rugby, and cricket.
  5. 5
    A play used to move the stones to the side of the sheet.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "power play"?
"power play" is spelled P-O-W-E-R- -P-L-A-Y.
What does "power play" mean?
As a noun, "power play" means: Tactics used to magnify power or influence.
What language does "power play" come from?
"power play" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “power play”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-O-W-E-R- -P-L-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list