Plain vs. Plane: What's the Difference?
Edited by Harlon Moss || By Janet White || Published on November 13, 2023
"Plain" refers to a simple or clear matter or a flat land area, while "Plane" denotes an aircraft or a flat surface.
Key Differences
Plain and Plane are two distinct words in the English language that, despite their phonetic similarity, convey different meanings. Plain often describes something straightforward, unembellished, or clear. Plane, on the other hand, can mean an aircraft that flies or a flat, level surface.
Considering the landscape, a Plain denotes a large, flat expanse of land, typically lacking significant hills or valleys. In geometry, however, Plane refers to a two-dimensional flat surface that extends infinitely in every direction.
In fashion or design, when something is described as Plain, it suggests that it's without intricate designs or decorations. Conversely, in woodworking, a Plane is a tool utilized to shave off thin layers from wood, ensuring the wood's surface is flat.
Plain can also imply clarity or being evident, as in "plain to see". Meanwhile, Plane might denote a level of existence or thought in philosophical discussions, such as "astral plane."
Thus, while Plain usually emphasizes simplicity, straightforwardness, or vast flatlands, Plane leans toward definitions tied to flatness, aircraft, or specific realms of existence.
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Comparison Chart
Primary Meaning
Simple, clear, or a flat land area.
An aircraft or flat surface.
Field of Use
Landscape, clarity, design.
Aviation, geometry, philosophy.
Grammatical Use
Adjective (e.g., plain shirt) or Noun (e.g., Great Plains)
Noun (e.g., airplane) or Adjective (e.g., plane surface)
Origin
Old French "plein", meaning flat or even surface.
Latin "planus", meaning level or flat.
Related Terms
Plainsman, plainly.
Planar, planer.
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Plain and Plane Definitions
Plain
Evident without ambiguity; clear.
His guilt was plain to see.
Plane
A powered flying vehicle with fixed wings.
The plane took off at dawn.
Plain
Not mixed with anything else; pure.
He expressed his plain dislike for the policy.
Plane
Completely level or flat.
The table's surface is plane.
Plain
Free from obstructions; open; clear
In plain view.
Plane
(Mathematics) A surface containing all the straight lines that connect any two points on it.
Plain
Obvious to the perception or mind; evident
Make one's intention plain.
Plane
A flat or level surface.
Plain
Not elaborate or complicated; simple
Plain food.
Plane
A level of development, existence, or achievement
Scholarship on a high plane.
Plain
Marked by little or no ornamentation or decoration
Plain garb.
Plane
An airplane or hydroplane.
Plain
Straightforward; frank or candid
Plain talk.
Plane
A supporting surface of an airplane; an airfoil or wing.
Plain
Not pretentious; unaffected.
Plane
A carpenter's tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing and leveling wood.
Plain
Lacking beauty or distinction
A plain face.
Plane
A trowel-shaped tool for smoothing the surface of clay, sand, or plaster in a mold.
Plain
Not mixed with other substances; pure
Plain water.
Plane
The plane tree.
Plain
Common in rank or station; average; ordinary
A plain man.
Plane
(Mathematics) Of or being a figure lying in a plane
A plane curve.
Plain
Not dyed, twilled, or patterned
A plain fabric.
Plane
Flat; level.
Plain
Sheer; utter; unqualified
Plain stupidity.
Plane
To smooth or finish with a plane
Planed the door.
Plain
(Archaic) Having no visible elevation or depression; flat; level.
Plane
To remove with a plane
Plane off the rough edges on a board.
Plain
Often plains An extensive, level, usually treeless area of land.
Plane
To work with a plane.
Plain
A broad level expanse, as a part of the sea floor or a lunar mare.
Plane
To rise partly out of the water, as a hydroplane does at high speeds.
Plain
Something free of ornamentation or extraneous matter.
Plane
To soar or glide.
Plain
Clearly; simply
Plain stubborn.
Plane
To travel by airplane.
Plain
Flat, level.
Plane
Of a surface: flat or level.
Plain
Simple, unaltered.
Plane
A level or flat surface.
Plain
Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.
A plain tune
Plane
(geometry) A flat surface extending infinitely in all directions (e.g. horizontal or vertical plane). Category:en:Surfaces
Plain
Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
A plain pink polycotton skirt
Plane
(anatomy) An imaginary plane which divides the body into two portions.
Plain
Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
They're just plain people like you or me.
Plane
A level of existence or development.
Astral plane
Plain
(of food) Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras.
Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?
Plane
A roughly flat, thin, often moveable structure used to create lateral force by the flow of air or water over its surface, found on aircraft, submarines, etc. (Compare airfoil, hydrofoil.)}}
Plain
(computing) Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).
Plane
Any of 17 designated ranges of 216 (65,536) sequential code points each.
Plain
Obvious.
Plane
A tool for smoothing wood by removing thin layers from the surface.
Plain
Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.
Plane
An airplane; an aeroplane.
Plain
Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).
His answer was just plain nonsense.
Plane
(entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies, of various genera, having a slow gliding flight.
Plain
Open.
Plane
(entomology) The butterfly Bindahara phocides, family Lycaenidae, of Asia and Australasia.
Plain
Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.
Let me be plain with you: I don't like her.
Plane
(countable) A deciduous tree of the genus Platanus.
Plain
Clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
Plane
(Northern UK) A sycamore.
Plain
Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
Throughout high school she worried that she had a rather plain face.
Plane
To smooth (wood) with a plane.
Plain
(card games) Not a trump.
Plane
To move in a way that lifts the bow out of the water.
Plain
(obsolete) Full, complete in number or extent.
Plane
To glide or soar.
Plain
(colloquial) Simply.
It was just plain stupid.
I plain forgot.
Plane
Any tree of the genus Platanus.
Plain
(archaic) Plainly; distinctly.
Tell me plain: do you love me or no?
Plane
A surface, real or imaginary, in which, if any two points are taken, the straight line which joins them lies wholly in that surface; or a surface, any section of which by a like surface is a straight line; a surface without curvature.
Plain
A lamentation.
Plane
An ideal surface, conceived as coinciding with, or containing, some designated astronomical line, circle, or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of the ecliptic, or of the equator.
Plain
An expanse of land with relatively low relief, usually exclusive of forests, deserts, and wastelands.
Plane
A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface, used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate.
Plain
(archaic) field in reference to a battlefield.
Plane
A tool for smoothing boards or other surfaces of wood, for forming moldings, etc. It consists of a smooth-soled stock, usually of wood, from the under side or face of which projects slightly the steel cutting edge of a chisel, called the iron, which inclines backward, with an apperture in front for the escape of shavings; as, the jack plane; the smoothing plane; the molding plane, etc.
Plain
(obsolete) plane: a flat geometric field.
Plane
Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface.
Plain
To complain.
Plane
To make smooth; to level; to pare off the inequalities of the surface of, as of a board or other piece of wood, by the use of a plane; as, to plane a plank.
Plain
To lament, bewail.
To plain a loss
Plane
To efface or remove.
He planed away the names . . . written on his tables.
Plain
To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
Plane
Figuratively, to make plain or smooth.
What student came but that you planed her path.
Plain
To make plain or manifest; to explain.
Plane
Of a boat, to lift more or less out of the water while in motion, after the manner of a hydroplane; to hydroplane.
Plain
To lament; to bewail; to complain.
We with piteous heart unto you pleyne.
Plane
An aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets;
The flight was delayed due to trouble with the airplane
Plain
To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss.
Plane
(mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape;
We will refer to the plane of the graph as the X-Y plane
Any line joining two points on a plane lies wholly on that plane
Plain
To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.
We would rake Europe rather, plain the East.
Plane
A level of existence or development;
He lived on a worldly plane
Plain
To make plain or manifest; to explain.
What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech.
Plane
A power tool for smoothing or shaping wood
Plain
Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane.
The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.
Plane
A carpenter's hand tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing or shaping wood;
The cabinetmaker used a plane for the finish work
Plain
Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
Our troops beat an army in plain fight.
Plane
Cut or remove with or as if with a plane;
The machine shaved off fine layers from the piece of wood
Plain
Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable.
Plane
Travel on the surface of water
Plain
Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple.
Plane
Make even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane;
Plane the top of the door
Plain
In a plain manner; plainly.
Plane
Having a horizontal surface in which no part is higher or lower than another;
A flat desk
Acres of level farmland
A plane surface
Plain
Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains, or prairies.
Descending fro the mountain into playn.
Him the AmmoniteWorshiped in Rabba and her watery plain.
Plane
A flat surface on which a straight line joining any two points would wholly lie.
The wall forms a plane for the mural.
Plain
A field of battle.
Lead forth my soldiers to the plain.
Plane
A tool for shaving off thin layers from wood.
He used a plane to smooth the table.
Plain
Extensive tract of level open land;
They emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain
He longed for the fields of his youth
Plane
A level of existence, consciousness, or development.
The concept exists on a different plane of reality.
Plain
A basic knitting stitch
Plain
Express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness;
My mother complains all day
She has a lot to kick about
Plain
Clearly apparent or obvious to the mind or senses;
The effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields
Evident hostility
Manifest disapproval
Patent advantages
Made his meaning plain
It is plain that he is no reactionary
In plain view
Plain
Not elaborate or elaborated; simple;
Plain food
Stuck to the plain facts
A plain blue suit
A plain rectangular brick building
Plain
Lacking patterns especially in color
Plain
Not mixed with extraneous elements;
Plain water
Sheer wine
Not an unmixed blessing
Plain
Free from any effort to soften to disguise;
The plain and unvarnished truth
The unvarnished candor of old people and children
Plain
Lacking embellishment or ornamentation;
A plain hair style
Unembellished white walls
Functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete
Plain
Lacking stylistic embellishment;
A literal description
Wrote good but plain prose
A plain unadorned account of the coronation
A forthright unembellished style
Plain
Comprehensible to the general public;
Written for the popular press in plain nontechnical language
Plain
Lacking in physical beauty or proportion;
A homely child
Several of the buildings were downright homely
A plain girl with a freckled face
Plain
Unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly');
The answer is obviously wrong
She was in bed and evidently in great pain
He was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list
It is all patently nonsense
She has apparently been living here for some time
I thought he owned the property, but apparently not
You are plainly wrong
He is plain stubborn
Plain
Lacking decoration or adornment; simple.
She wore a plain white shirt.
Plain
A large area of flat land with few trees.
The plain stretched out for miles.
Plain
Average or ordinary in appearance.
He has a plain face but a brilliant mind.
FAQs
Is "Plane" always related to an aircraft?
No, it can also refer to a flat surface or a level of existence.
Can "Plain" describe the appearance of something?
Yes, if something is "plain", it is simple and unadorned.
Do "Plain" and "Plane" sound the same?
Yes, they're homophones, but their meanings differ.
Can "Plain" refer to a type of landform?
Yes, a "plain" can mean a large area of flat land with few trees.
What does it mean to "plane" wood?
It means to shave or smooth wood using a tool called a "plane."
Is a "paper plane" an actual aircraft?
No, a "paper plane" is a toy aircraft made from folded paper.
Does "Plain" have a French origin?
Yes, it's derived from Old French "plein", meaning flat or even surface.
Is "plain-speaking" about geography?
No, "plain-speaking" refers to speaking in a straightforward manner.
Can "Plain" imply something is clear or evident?
Yes, if something is "plain to see", it's clearly evident.
Is "aeroplane" the same as "plane"?
Yes, "aeroplane" is a full term, often shortened to "plane," referring to a powered flying vehicle.
Is "plainclothes" about simple clothing?
Not exactly. "Plainclothes" refers to a police officer dressed in civilian clothes instead of a uniform.
What's a "seaplane"?
A "seaplane" is a plane designed to take off from and land on water.
What is the "astral plane"?
The "astral plane" refers to a non-physical realm of existence in some philosophical or spiritual beliefs.
Can "Plane" refer to a mathematical concept?
Yes, in geometry, a "plane" is a flat, two-dimensional surface that extends infinitely.
Is "planar" related to "Plane"?
Yes, "planar" means relating to or in the form of a plane.
Can both "Plain" and "Plane" be used as adjectives?
Yes, "plain" can describe simplicity, and "plane" can denote flatness, like a "plane surface".
Can "Plain" also mean ordinary?
Yes, "plain" can refer to something average or unremarkable in appearance.
What does "plainly" mean?
"Plainly" is an adverb meaning "in a clear and unambiguous manner."
Can "Plain" refer to purity?
Yes, "plain" can indicate something not mixed with anything else, like "plain water".
What does "biplane" mean?
A "biplane" is a plane with two main wings stacked one above the other.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Harlon MossHarlon is a seasoned quality moderator and accomplished content writer for Difference Wiki. An alumnus of the prestigious University of California, he earned his degree in Computer Science. Leveraging his academic background, Harlon brings a meticulous and informed perspective to his work, ensuring content accuracy and excellence.
