plain and plane are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. plain means “clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment”. plane means “an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets”. plane is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈpleɪn/
1.adj.clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
“the effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields”
2.adj.not elaborate or elaborated; simple
“plain food”
3.adj.lacking patterns especially in color
/ˈpleɪn/
1.n.an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets
“the flight was delayed due to trouble with the airplane”
2.n.(mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape
“we will refer to the plane of the graph as the X-Y plane”
3.n.a level of existence or development
“he lived on a worldly plane”
| plain | plane | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈpleɪn/ | /ˈpleɪn/ |
| Said | playn | playn |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| Letters | 5 | 5 |
| Parts of speech | adjective, noun, verb, adverb | noun, verb, adjective |
| Senses | 11 | 9 |
| How common | Common | Core |
| Synonyms | apparent, evident, manifest | airplane, aeroplane |
Full entry for plain · Full entry for plane · More comparisons