Which to use
“plaigne” is a verb and “plainte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,858
- “plaigne” frequency rank
- #2,536
- “plainte” frequency rank
- 52394
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plaigne | plainte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de plaindre. | Gémissement ; lamentation. |
Where the eye mixes plaigne and plainte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. plaigne and plainte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: plaigne vs plainte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plaigne is \plɛɲ\ while plainte is \plɛ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plaigne is recorded at frequency rank #49,858, classified as averb, pronounced \plɛɲ\. plainte is at rank #2,536, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plɛ̃t\.
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 52394, this pair ranks #148,023 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plaigne vs plainte
Shared letters: aeilnp. Private to "plaigne": g. Private to "plainte": t.
"plaigne" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "plainte" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "plaigne" for "plainte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "plaigne" or "plainte"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "plaigne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plainte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,023 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plaigne" and "plainte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plaigne vs platane". 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 #148,023 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.