grin
/ɡɹɪn/
"grin" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“grin” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,165. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #13,165
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.
Corpus desk
Index EN-grin · grin · English
grin · rank #13,165 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #13,165
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 18,276
- PHOTO-FINISH gracious
Nearest frequency peer: gracious (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “grin”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Goldman
Goldman
86,839 corpus weight
- gracious
gracious
86,837 corpus weight
- grin
grin
86,836 corpus weight
- GTA
GTA
86,835 corpus weight
- Halifax
Halifax
86,834 corpus weight
- Hanna
Hanna
86,833 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “grin” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | grin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡɹɪn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #13,165 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “grin” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around grin (IPA /ɡɹɪn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,165 among 18,276 “G” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for grin, with forms such as "ggrin", "girn", and "grinn". 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, "gun", "GUI", "GRU", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English grinnen, from Old English grennian, from Proto-West Germanic *grannjōn, from Proto-Germanic *granjōną. Related to groan. Compare to Middle High German grennen (“to mutter, complain”) and Danish grine (“to show one's teeth, to laugh”) The correct English form is grin, spelled G-R-I-N.
Definition
- 1A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how grin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
When the ceremony was finished a wide grin broke across his face, and it was that grin she saw, relieved and happy all at once.
When my son appeared at the door the next day with his schoolbag on his back, the Professor broke into a wide grin and opened his arms to embrace him.
Etymology
From Middle English grinnen, from Old English grennian, from Proto-West Germanic *grannjōn, from Proto-Germanic *granjōną. Related to groan. Compare to Middle High German grennen (“to mutter, complain”) and Danish grine (“to show one's teeth, to laugh”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ggrin
- girn
- grinn
- grni
- grrin
- rgin
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of grin - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "grin"?
What does "grin" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "grin", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.