Maine

/mɛn/

//mɛn// name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"maine" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Maine” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,517. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,517
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A former province of Pays de la Loire, France. Capital: Le Mans.

Corpus desk

Index EN-maine · Maine · English

Maine · rank #5,517 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,517
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH liability

Nearest frequency peer: liability (-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 “Maine”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “Maine” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Maine vs man
40% similar
Maine vs min
40% similar
Maine vs Mie
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Maine
PropertyValue
HeadwordMaine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/mɛn/
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,517
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Maine”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Mainelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “liability” (#5,516), “legislature” (#5,515), “Manhattan” (#5,519). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “Maine” is #5,517. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around Maine (IPA /mɛn/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #5,517 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Maine, with forms such as "maien", "mainne", and "manie". 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, "man", "min", "Mie", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: The US state is from French Maine, named by its French explorers after the province in France with the same name; unrelated to the name of the river that flows through it. From Old French Cemaine, from Latin *Cenomania, from the name of the Gaulish Cenomani… The correct English form is Maine, spelled M-A-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A former province of Pays de la Loire, France. Capital: Le Mans.
  2. 2
    A state of the United States; probably named for the province in France. Capital: Augusta. Largest city: Portland.
  3. 3
    A town in New York.
  4. 4
    A town in Outagamie County, Wisconsin; named for the state.
  5. 5
    A river in Maine, United States, flowing 5.5 miles from Pocomoonshine Lake in Princeton into Crawford Lake in Crawford.
  6. 6
    University of Maine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how Maine appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. These first English migrants to Jamestown endured terrible disease and arrived during a period of drought and colder-than-normal winters. The migrants to Roanoke on the outer banks of Carolina, where the English had gone in the 1580s, disappeared. And a brief effort to settle the coast of Maine in 1607 and 1608 failed because of an unusually bitter winter.

Etymology

The US state is from French Maine, named by its French explorers after the province in France with the same name; unrelated to the name of the river that flows through it. From Old French Cemaine, from Latin *Cenomania, from the name of the Gaulish Cenomani tribe of Gallia Celtica. The word was rebracketed as ce (“this”) + Maine, and the ce- was lost by the 12th century.

This word in other languages

Maine(Español)Maine(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • maien
  • mainne
  • manie
  • miane
  • mmaine

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Maine - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

maien2mainne1manie2miane2mmaine1
Edit distance from "Maine"

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

How do you spell "Maine"?
"Maine" is spelled M-A-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /mɛn/.
What does "Maine" mean?
As a proper noun, "Maine" means: A former province of Pays de la Loire, France. Capital: Le Mans.
What words are commonly confused with "Maine"?
"Maine" is commonly confused with "man", "min", "Mie". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Maine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Maine" is /mɛn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Maine"?
The US state is from French Maine, named by its French explorers after the province in France with the same name; unrelated to the name of the river that flows through it. From Old French Cemaine, from Latin *Cenomania, from the name of the Gaulis... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Maine", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

react#5,538rocky#5,543shade#5,548blake#5,480

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

ours5 variantsaunt5 variantsthou5 variantsThai5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list