aircraft = any machine capable of flight, including airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps and dirigibles
- The aviation museum has examples of almost ever kind of aircraft ever used.
Airplane = aircraft with wings. Commonly used in everyday speech.
- Most airplanes have one set of two wings. Biplanes have two sets of wings, and triplanes haves three sets.
- A 747 is a really big airplane.
Aeroplane = airplane in British English
- My spell-checker is set for American English, and so "aeroplane" is always marked as misspelled.
Plane = short for airplane. Even more commonly used than "airplane."
- I like to go to the airport to watch the planes land and take off.
- (while leaving the airport) Oh, no! I think I left my sweater on the plane.
- I got a good price on my plane ticket.