planovsplayWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“plano” and “play” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,466
“plano” frequency rank
#4,638
“play” frequency rank
7104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plano play
Definition Sucesión de puntos. En los reproductores de música, el botón con el símbolo de triángulo que se usa para iniciar la canción.

Where the eye mixes plano and play

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
plano
4 ch
play

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. plano ([ˈplano]) and play ([ˈplej]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plano is recorded at frequency rank #2,466, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈplano]. play is at rank #4,638, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈplej].

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 7104, this pair ranks #308,911 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of plano vs play

Shared letters: alp. Private to "plano": no. Private to "play": y.

"plano" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "play" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • planolpano · palno · planno · plaon · pllano · plnao · pplano
  • playlpay · paly · playy · pllay · plya · pplay

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plano" and "play" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈplano] versus [ˈplej]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "plano" or "play"?
"plano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,466 in our Spanish list, against #4,638 for "play". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list