levin
/ˈlɛvɪn/
"levin" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“levin” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,957 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,957
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Lightning; a bolt of lightning; also, a bright flame or light.
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 | levin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɛvɪn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #16,957 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “levin” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for levin is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɛvɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,957 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Lightning; a bolt of lightning; also, a bright flame or light.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for levin, with forms such as "elvin", "leivn", and "levinn". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lin", "levy", "Lexi", 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 levene. Spellings in Middle English and Early Modern English include leven, levin, levyn, leiven, and leyven. The earlier etymology is less clear. It is thought to be related to Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌹 (lauhmuni) (which see for some more… The correct English form is levin, spelled L-E-V-I-N.
Definition
- 1Lightning; a bolt of lightning; also, a bright flame or light.
Etymology
From Middle English levene. Spellings in Middle English and Early Modern English include leven, levin, levyn, leiven, and leyven. The earlier etymology is less clear. It is thought to be related to Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌹 (lauhmuni) (which see for some more), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright, to shine”). Possibly a regular reflex, possibly North Germanic loan, or possibly from a lost substrate.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elvin,leivn,levinn,levni,levvin,llevin,lvein
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of levin - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “levin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E-V-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɛvɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lin” - see the side-by-side comparison. levin vs lin
- 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.