mains
/meɪnz/
"mains" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mains” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,070 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,070
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of main
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 | mains |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /meɪnz/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #16,070 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mains” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mains is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /meɪnz/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,070 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "plural of main".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for mains, with forms such as "amins", "mainns", and "mainss". 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", "many", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is mains, spelled M-A-I-N-S.
Definition
- 1plural of main
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amins,mainns,mainss,maisn,manis,mians,mmains
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mains - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "mains"?
What does "mains" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "mains"?
How do you pronounce "mains"?
What language does "mains" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “mains”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-I-N-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /meɪnz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “man” - see the side-by-side comparison. mains vs man
- 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.