brain
/bɹeɪn/
"brain" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“brain” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,215 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,215
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
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 | brain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɹeɪn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,215 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “brain” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for brain is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɹeɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,215 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for brain, with forms such as "barin", "bbrain", and "brainn". 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, "Bri", "Brit", "brat", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English brayn, brain, from Old English bræġn (“brain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną (“brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mregʰnom (“skull, brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mregʰ- (“marrow, sinciput”) + *-mn̥ (“… The correct English form is brain, spelled B-R-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
- 2The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
- 3The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
- 4Mind.
- 5Intellect.
- 6An intelligent person.
- 7An intelligent person.
- 8An intelligent person.
- 9By analogy with a human brain, the part of a machine or computer that performs calculations.
- 10Oral sex.
- 11A loose compartment of a backpack that straps on over the top opening.
Etymology
From Middle English brayn, brain, from Old English bræġn (“brain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną (“brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mregʰnom (“skull, brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mregʰ- (“marrow, sinciput”) + *-mn̥ (“nominal suffix”). Cognate with Scots braine, brane (“brain”), North Frisian brayen, brein, Brain (“brain”), Saterland Frisian Brainge, Bräienge (“brain”), West Frisian brein (“brain”), Dutch brein (“brain”), Low German Brägen, Bregen (“brain”) (whence German Bregen (“animal brain”)), Ancient Greek βρεχμός (brekhmós, “front part of the skull, top of the head”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: barin,bbrain,brainn,brani,brrain,rbain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of brain - 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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “brain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɹeɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Bri” - see the side-by-side comparison. brain vs Bri
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.