attain
at·tain/əˈteɪn/verb
attain is spelled A-T-T-A-I-N, 2 syllables: at·tain. The wrong spelling people search most is atain: about 110 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 16 of all searches for the word. Attain is a verb meaning “To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression”.
How many letters and syllables are in attain?
| Letters | 6: A-T-T-A-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: at·tain |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, atain, about 110 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell attain?
Attain is spelled A-T-T-A-I-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 16 of the searches for attain in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is attain?
Attain appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce attain?
- US /əˈteɪn/
Attain has 2 syllables, split at·tain in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-attain.wav, En-us-attain.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with attain
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with attain?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as attain from its last stressed vowel (/eɪn/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of attain
- attains present, singular, he/she/it
- attaining participle, present
- attained participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does attain mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression.
- 2
To arrive at (a certain age or time, condition or state, etc.); to reach.
- 3
To gain (a desired result or other objective) through effort; to accomplish, to achieve.
To attain such a high level of proficiency requires hours of practice each day.
- 4
archaicTo gain possession of (something tangible or intangible) through effort; to acquire, to obtain.
- 5
obsoleteTo reach (someone) after being behind them.
- 6
obsoleteTo find out (information, knowledge, etc.); to ascertain, to get at.
- 7
archaicTo come to or reach a place by motion or progression; to reach.
- 8
To arrive at a certain condition or state, etc.
noun
- 1
archaicAn act of arriving at or reaching; an act of obtaining by effort.
- 2
archaicThat which is obtained by effort.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Attain in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (transitive) to gain (a desired result or other objective) through effort – see :
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | atteindre |
| German | erlangen, erreichen, erringen |
| Portuguese | atingir, alcançar, cumprir, efetuar |
| Spanish | alcanzar, conseguir, granjear, lograr |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.