Which to use
“plan” and “plein” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #391
- “plan” frequency rank
- #468
- “plein” frequency rank
- 859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plan | plein |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est uni, plat, qui ne présente ni courbure ni ondulation. | Qui contient tout ce qu’il est capable de contenir ; il est opposé à vide. |
Where the eye mixes plan and plein
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses plan with plein
A purely visual mix-up. plan (\plɑ̃\) and plein (\plɛ̃\) 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 859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plan is recorded at frequency rank #391, classified as anadj, pronounced \plɑ̃\. plein is at rank #468, tagged as anadj, pronounced \plɛ̃\.
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 859, this pair ranks #439,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of plan vs plein
Shared letters: lnp. Private to "plan": a. Private to "plein": ei.
"plan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "plein" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "plan" and "plein" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "plan" or "plein"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "plan" and "plein" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "plan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plein" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plan" and "plein" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palin vs plein". 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 #439,005 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.