Main
[maɪ̯n]
The verdict
“Main” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,854) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #1,854
- frequency rank, German
- 3,571
- “M” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ein bedeutender rechtsrheinischer Nebenfluss, welcher im Fichtelgebirge entspringt, ausschließlich Deutschland durchfließt und der östlich von Wiesbaden und Mainz in den Rhein mündet
Corpus desk
Index DE-main · Main · German
Main · rank #1,854 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,854
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,571
- PHOTO-FINISH leichter
Nearest frequency peer: leichter (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „Main“
Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten
- laufe
laufe
98,150 corpus weight
- le
le
98,149 corpus weight
- leichter
leichter
98,148 corpus weight
- Main
Main
98,147 corpus weight
- offiziell
offiziell
98,145 corpus weight
- PC
PC
98,144 corpus weight
What this shows Balken platzieren „Main“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Main |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | [maɪ̯n] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,854 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „Main“
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for Main is neighbouring look-alikes ("mit", "man", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced [maɪ̯n]. Frequency #1,854 among 3,571 “M” headwords. Gloss: "ein bedeutender rechtsrheinischer Nebenfluss, welcher im Fichtelgebirge entspringt, ausschließlich Deutschland durchfließt und der östlich von Wiesbaden und Mainz in den Rhein mündet".
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for Main, with forms such as "mainn", "mian", and "mmain". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mit", "man", "mir", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is Main, spelled M-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1ein bedeutender rechtsrheinischer Nebenfluss, welcher im Fichtelgebirge entspringt, ausschließlich Deutschland durchfließt und der östlich von Wiesbaden und Mainz in den Rhein mündet
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Main appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Es führt über den Main / Eine Brücke von Stein / Wer darüber will gehn / Muss im Tanze sich drehn - (Volkslied)
Am Main entlang geht es weiter gen Würzburg mit seiner barocken Residenz.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- mainn
- mian
- mmain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Main - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Main"?
What does "Main" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Main"?
How do you pronounce "Main"?
What language does "Main" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Main", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).