# swain vs sway

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### swain
*noun · IPA /sweɪn/ · frequency rank #29,112*
A young man or boy in service; a servant.

### sway
*noun · IPA /ˈsweɪ̯/ · frequency rank #12,150*
The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/swain-vs-sway