Which to use
“mains” is a noun and “marine” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,070
- “mains” frequency rank
- #2,843
- “marine” frequency rank
- 18913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mains | marine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of main | Belonging to or characteristic of the sea; existing or found in the sea; formed or produced by the sea. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mains and marine apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
mains and marine form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mains is recorded at frequency rank #16,070, classified as anoun, pronounced /meɪnz/. marine is at rank #2,843, tagged as anadj, pronounced /məˈɹiːn/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 18913, this pair ranks #441,751 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mains" and "marine" be used interchangeably?
Remembering mains vs marine
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mains”; for an adjective, it's “marine”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mains” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable