mane

/meɪn/

//meɪn// noun

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

"mane" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mane” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #18,883) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#18,883
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Longer hair growth on back of neck of an animal, especially a horse or lion.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mane · mane · English

mane · rank #18,883 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,883
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH malignant

Nearest frequency peer: malignant (-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 “mane”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “mane” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

mane vs ME
0% similar
mane vs MN
0% similar
mane vs may
50% similar

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

Key facts for mane
PropertyValue
Headwordmane
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/meɪn/
Letters4
Frequency rank#18,883
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mane” sits in English frequency

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).manelands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “malignant” (#18,882), “mascara” (#18,884), “Malawi” (#18,881). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mane is neighbouring look-alikes ("ME", "MN", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /meɪn/. Frequency #18,883 among 4,057 “M” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for mane, with forms such as "manne", "mmane", and "mnae". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ME", "MN", "may", 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 mane, mayne, from Old English manu (“mane”), from Proto-West Germanic *manu, from Proto-Germanic *manō (“mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *mony-, *mon- (“neck”). Cognate with Dutch maan, manen (“mane”), German Mähne (“mane”), Danish man … The correct English form is mane, spelled M-A-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Longer hair growth on back of neck of an animal, especially a horse or lion.
  2. 2
    Long or thick hair of a person's head.
  3. 3
    Part of a naval sword between the tang button and the quillon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.

Etymology

From Middle English mane, mayne, from Old English manu (“mane”), from Proto-West Germanic *manu, from Proto-Germanic *manō (“mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *mony-, *mon- (“neck”). Cognate with Dutch maan, manen (“mane”), German Mähne (“mane”), Danish man (“horse's mane”), Swedish man (“horse's mane”), Icelandic mön (“mane”).

This word in other languages

crin(Español)crinière(Français)Mähne(Deutsch)crina(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • manne
  • mmane
  • mnae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

manne1mmane1mnae2
Edit distance from "mane"

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 "mane"?
"mane" is spelled M-A-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /meɪn/.
What does "mane" mean?
As a noun, "mane" means: Longer hair growth on back of neck of an animal, especially a horse or lion.
What words are commonly confused with "mane"?
"mane" is commonly confused with "ME", "MN", "may". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mane"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mane" is /meɪn/. 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 "mane"?
From Middle English mane, mayne, from Old English manu (“mane”), from Proto-West Germanic *manu, from Proto-Germanic *manō (“mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *mony-, *mon- (“neck”). Cognate with Dutch maan, manen (“mane”), German Mähne (“mane”), D... 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 "mane", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mace#18,879mend#18,888lulu#18,876limo#18,875

What to do next

You've looked up "mane". Here's where to go from here.

  • "mane" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "ME". View pair
  • 3 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #18,883 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list