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“Plain” or “Plane”

plain / plane are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

plain p·l·EY·n

  • nounextensive tract of level open land.
  • adjectivenot elaborate or elaborated; simple.
  • adjectivelacking patterns especially in color.
  • adjectivenot mixed with extraneous elements.
  • adjectivefree from any effort to soften to disguise.
  • adjectivelacking embellishment or ornamentation.

plane p·l·EY·n

  • noun(mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape.
  • nouna level of existence or development.
  • nouna power tool for smoothing or shaping wood.
  • nouna carpenter's hand tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing or shaping wood.
  • verbcut or remove with or as if with a plane.
  • verbtravel on the surface of water.
  • verbmake even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane.
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“plain”

  • …Levine edited the anticommunist magazine Plain Talk.
  • Category:Stony Plain Records artists
  • …up to 3,000 characters of plain text, with the first 300…
  • …more specifically the central coastal plain of the state, roughly where…
  • …Savannah in Georgia's Lower Coastal Plain region.
  • …the west of the walled plain Poincaré, another enormous formation only…
  • …of musical notation) that uses plain ASCII numbers, letters and symbols.
  • …rises about above the surrounding plain, and it is the central…
  • Plain x-rays of the abdomen sometimes…
  • …entrance to decorate an otherwise plain architectural design.

“plane”

  • This plane is selected by moving the…
  • The TIRS focal plane uses GaAs Quantum Well Infrared…
  • …against the Nazis and whose plane was shot down here.
  • …the Far Realm, an entire plane of insanity inspired by Lovecraft's…
  • 2 Koolhoven F.K.52 reconnaissance planes and 1 Douglas DC-2 transport…
  • Vial was killed in a plane crash in 1943, the year…
  • …S.71 was a single-seat fighter plane of all-wood construction with jointed
  • …steam train, I wanted the plane, I wanted the ocean liner…
  • A light plane flies from Basco Airport to…
  • …shift lever also has another plane of operation, for manual mode,…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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