pain

/peɪn/

//peɪn// noun

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

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

The verdict

“pain” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #996. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#996
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pain · pain · English

pain · rank #996 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #996
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH officer

Nearest frequency peer: officer (-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 “pain”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “pain” 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 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

pain vs pi
50% similar
pain vs pay
50% similar
pain vs Pan
50% similar

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

Key facts for pain
PropertyValue
Headwordpain
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/peɪn/
Letters4
Frequency rank#996
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “pain” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). pain lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around pain (IPA /peɪn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #996 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for pain, with forms such as "apin", "painn", and "pani". 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, "pi", "pay", "Pan", 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 peyne, payne, from Old French and Anglo-Norman peine, paine, from Latin poena (“punishment, pain”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty”), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-Europe… The correct English form is pain, spelled P-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
  2. 2
    An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
  3. 3
    The condition or fact of suffering or anguish especially mental, as opposed to pleasure; torment; distress
  4. 4
    An annoying person or thing.
  5. 5
    Suffering inflicted as punishment or penalty.
  6. 6
    Labour; effort; great care or trouble taken in doing something.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The greatest difficulty lies in treating patients with chronic pain.
  2. I had to stop running when I started getting pains in my feet.

Etymology

From Middle English peyne, payne, from Old French and Anglo-Norman peine, paine, from Latin poena (“punishment, pain”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty”), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ (“payment”) (whence also Proto-Slavic *cěnà (“price”)). Doublet of peine. Compare Danish pine, Norwegian Bokmål pine, German Pein, Dutch pijn, Afrikaans pyn. See also pine (the verb). Partly displaced native Old English sār (whence Modern English sore).

Synonyms

miserypainwark

Antonyms

pleasure

This word in other languages

dolor(Español)douleur(Français)Schmerz(Deutsch)dor(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apin
  • painn
  • pani
  • pian
  • ppain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pain - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

apin2painn1pani2pian2ppain1
Edit distance from "pain"

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pain"?
"pain" is spelled P-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is /peɪn/.
What does "pain" mean?
As a noun, "pain" means: An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
What words are commonly confused with "pain"?
"pain" is commonly confused with "pi", "pay", "Pan". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pain" is /peɪn/. 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 "pain"?
From Middle English peyne, payne, from Old French and Anglo-Norman peine, paine, from Latin poena (“punishment, pain”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty”), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-I... 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 "pain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Paul#997rock#1,002fans#989boys#986

Similar misspelling depth

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

wanna5 variantsnote5 variantsmine5 variantsallow5 variants

What to do next

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

  • "pain" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "pi". View pair
  • 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #996 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "P" letter cohort. P–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