detained
/dɪˈteɪnd/
"detained" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“detained” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,456. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #9,456
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Delayed or held back; kept from proceeding.
Corpus desk
Index EN-detained · detained · English
detained · rank #9,456 · 11 variants · 9 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #9,456
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH cuisine
Nearest frequency peer: cuisine (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “detained”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- coding
coding
90,549 corpus weight
- competitor
competitor
90,548 corpus weight
- cuisine
cuisine
90,546 corpus weight
- detained
detained
90,545 corpus weight
- dioxide
dioxide
90,544 corpus weight
- doom
doom
90,542 corpus weight
What this shows “detained” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | detained |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /dɪˈteɪnd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #9,456 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “detained”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around detained (IPA /dɪˈteɪnd/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #9,456 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for detained, with forms such as "ddetained", "deatined", and "detaiend". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "drained", "detainee", "detain", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is detained, spelled D-E-T-A-I-N-E-D.
Definition
- 1Delayed or held back; kept from proceeding.
- 2Held in custody or confinement.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how detained appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The detained train finally arrived hours late.
He remained detained pending trial.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddetained
- deatined
- detaiend
- detainde
- detainedd
- detainned
- detanied
- detianed
- dettained
- dteained
- edtained
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of detained - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "detained", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).