contain
con·tain/kənˈteɪn/verb
contain is spelled C-O-N-T-A-I-N, 2 syllables: con·tain. The wrong spelling people search most is conten: about 100 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Contain is a verb meaning “To hold inside”.
How many letters and syllables are in contain?
| Letters | 7: C-O-N-T-A-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: con·tain |
| In writing | 32 times per million words; the 2,992nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, conten, about 100 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell contain?
Contain is spelled C-O-N-T-A-I-N. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for contain 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 contain?
Contain appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd 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 contain?
- /kənˈteɪn/
Contain has 2 syllables, split con·tain in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-ca-contain.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of contain
- contains present, singular, he/she/it
- containing participle, present
- contained participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does contain mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To hold inside.
The brown box contains three stacks of books.
- 2
To include as a part.
Most of the meals they offer contain meat.
- 3
To put constraints upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself!
- 4
To have as an element or subset.
A group contains a unique inverse for each of its elements.
- 5
obsoleteTo restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Contain in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | contenir |
| German | enthalten, bergen , beinhalten , eingrenzen |
| Portuguese | conter |
| Spanish | contener , dominar |
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.
Where does contain come from?
From Middle English conteinen, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continēre (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + teneō (“to hold”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).