mean
/miːn/
"mean" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mean” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #274 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #274
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To intend.
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 | mean |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /miːn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #274 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mean” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mean is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /miːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #274 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for mean, with forms such as "eman", "maen", and "meann". 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, "MN", "men", "met", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English menen (“to intend; remember; lament; comfort”), from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, complain”), Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; complain”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyn- (“to think”), or pe… The correct English form is mean, spelled M-E-A-N.
Definition
- 1To intend.
- 2To intend.
- 3To intend.
- 4To intend.
- 5To convey (a meaning).
- 6To convey (a meaning).
- 7To convey (a meaning).
- 8To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
- 9To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).
- 10To be of some level of importance.
- 11To lament.
Etymology
From Middle English menen (“to intend; remember; lament; comfort”), from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, complain”), Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; complain”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyn- (“to think”), or perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meyno-, extended form of Proto-Indo-European *mey-. Germanic cognates include West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), German meinen (“to think, mean, believe”), Old Saxon mēnian. Indo-European cognates include Old Irish mían (“wish, desire”) and Polish mienić (“to signify, believe”). Non-Indo-European cognates include Finnish mainita (“to mention”), Finnish meinata (“to mean, to plan, to intend”) Estonian mainima (“to mention”), Northern Sami máinnastit (“to tell”). Related to moan.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eman,maen,meann,mmean
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mean - 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
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Using “mean”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-E-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /miːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “MN” - see the side-by-side comparison. mean vs MN
- 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.