migraine
/ˈmaɪɡɹeɪn/
"migraine" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“migraine” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,893 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #18,893
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A severe, disabling headache, usually affecting only one side of the head, and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia and visual disturbances.
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 | migraine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmaɪɡɹeɪn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #18,893 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “migraine” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for migraine is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmaɪɡɹeɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,893 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for migraine, with forms such as "imgraine", "mgiraine", and "migarine". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "migrant", "migrate", "moraine", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: First appears c. 1425. A respelling (following French) of the late 14th century Middle English megrim, from the 13th century Old French migraigne, from Vulgar Latin pronunciation of Latin hemicrania (“a pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμι… The correct English form is migraine, spelled M-I-G-R-A-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1A severe, disabling headache, usually affecting only one side of the head, and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia and visual disturbances.
- 2A neurological condition characterised by such headaches.
Etymology
First appears c. 1425. A respelling (following French) of the late 14th century Middle English megrim, from the 13th century Old French migraigne, from Vulgar Latin pronunciation of Latin hemicrania (“a pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “the skull”) (whence also cranium), a calque of Egyptian gs-tp (“a headache”), from gs (“half”) + tp (“the head”), although the link between the Egyptian magical papyri and the Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía) could be purely incidental. Cognate to megrim, hemicrania.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: imgraine,mgiraine,migarine,miggraine,migraien,migrainne,migranie,migriane,migrraine,mirgaine,mmigraine
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of migraine - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “migraine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-G-R-A-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmaɪɡɹeɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “migrant” - see the side-by-side comparison. migraine vs migrant
- 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.