planervsplanèteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: planer is a verb, planète is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“planer” is a verb and “planète” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,368
“planer” frequency rank
#1,492
“planète” frequency rank
20860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature planer planète
Definition Se soutenir en l’air, les ailes étendues et immobiles, en parlant des oiseaux. Corps céleste plutôt sphérique plus gros qu’un astéroïde, ne produisant pas de lumière propre, en orbite autour d’une ou plusieurs étoiles.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set planer and planète apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
planer
7 ch
planète

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: planer is \pla.ne\ while planète is \pla.nɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

planer is recorded at frequency rank #19,368, classified as averb, pronounced \pla.ne\. planète is at rank #1,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pla.nɛt\.

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 20860, this pair ranks #366,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of planer vs planète

Shared letters: aelnp. Private to "planer": r. Private to "planète": .

"planer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "planète" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • planerlpaner · palner · plaenr · planerr · planner · planre · pllaner · plnaer

Frequency comparison

planer#19,368
planète#1,492

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "planer" and "planète" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "planer" is a verb and "planète" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "planer" or "planète"?
"planète" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,492 in our French list, against #19,368 for "planer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering planer vs planète

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “planer”; for a noun, it's “planète”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “planer” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list