peauvsplaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“peau” and “pla” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,301
“peau” frequency rank
#26,134
“pla” frequency rank
27435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peau pla
Definition Enveloppe d’un corps humain ou animal. Dans les batteries du tambour, coup frappé sur la caisse en appuyant fortement avec la baguette que l’on tient de la main gauche.

Where the eye mixes peau and pla

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
peau
3 ch
pla

Visual trap between peau and pla

A purely visual mix-up. peau (\po\) and pla (\pla\) 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 27435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peau is recorded at frequency rank #1,301, classified as anoun, pronounced \po\. pla is at rank #26,134, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pla\.

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 27435, this pair ranks #328,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peau vs pla

Shared letters: ap. Private to "peau": eu. Private to "pla": l.

"peau" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "pla" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peauepau · paeu · peua · ppeau

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "peau" and "pla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\po\ versus \pla\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "peau" vs "pla" - which ranks higher?
"peau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,301 in our French list, against #26,134 for "pla". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "peau" and "pla" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #328,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peau" and "pla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pla". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #328,967 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list