Which to use
“plaines” and “plaques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,365
- “plaines” frequency rank
- #5,169
- “plaques” frequency rank
- 14534
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plaines | plaques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de plaine. | Pluriel de plaque. |
Where the eye mixes plaines and plaques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses plaines with plaques
A purely visual mix-up. plaines (\plɛn\) and plaques (\plak\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plaines is recorded at frequency rank #9,365, classified as anoun, pronounced \plɛn\. plaques is at rank #5,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plak\.
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 14534, this pair ranks #396,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of plaines vs plaques
Shared letters: aelps. Private to "plaines": in. Private to "plaques": qu.
"plaines" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "plaques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plaines" and "plaques" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "plaines" vs "plaques" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "plaines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plaques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plaines" and "plaques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plaigne vs plaines". 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 #396,251 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.