Meaning & use
plate number
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The set of letters and numbers printed on a vehicle's official identification plate.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a plate number or plate numbers.
Patterns
- the plate number of a car
- write down a plate number
- a plate number ending in 9
The witness wrote down the plate number of the van as it drove away.
Please give the police the car's plate number, make, and color.
I can never remember my own plate number when I need to fill in a form.
nouncountabletechnical
The identification number printed on a small flat object such as a medical or military tag.
Grammar: Countable and often used with a possessive: her plate number.
Patterns
- a dog's plate number
- the plate number on a tag
The soldier's plate number was stamped on the metal tag around his neck.
The vet recorded the dog's plate number from its collar tag.
Word forms
| plural | plate numbers |
|---|
Common combinations
- take down a plate number
- A passer-by took down the plate number and called the police.
- the front plate number
- The front plate number was missing after the crash.
- trace a plate number
- Officers traced the plate number to a rental company.
- a partial plate number
- We only have a partial plate number, so it may be hard to identify the car.
Synonyms and how they differ
- registration number
- More formal and common in British official contexts; it refers to the same characters on the vehicle.
- license plate
- This names the physical plate itself, while "plate number" refers to the characters printed on it.
- number plate
- The usual British term for the physical plate; use it when talking about the object rather than the digits.
Word family
- license plate noun
- The American term for the flat metal or plastic sign on a vehicle.
- number plate noun
- The British term for the same sign.
Commonly confused: plate number or license plate? plate number or number plate?
plate number vs license plate
This is the physical plate, not the characters on it. Say "The license plate was bent" but "Write down the plate number."
plate number vs number plate
British English for the physical plate; "plate number" is the identification code shown on it.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
"On" is used for something printed or fixed onto a surface, so "the plate number on the car" is correct. "Of" is possible in some phrases but less natural here, and "from" and "to" do not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “plate number”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.