paint

/peɪnt/

//peɪnt// noun

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

"paint" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“paint” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,903. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,903
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A substance that is applied as a liquid or paste, and dries into a solid coating that protects or adds colour to an object or surface to which it has been applied.

Corpus desk

Index EN-paint · paint · English

paint · rank #2,903 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,903
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH license

Nearest frequency peer: license (-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 “paint”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “paint” 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).

paint vs Pan
40% similar
paint vs pin
60% similar
paint vs pit
60% similar

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

Key facts for paint
PropertyValue
Headwordpaint
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/peɪnt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,903
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “paint” 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).paint 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 7 spelling variants around paint (IPA /peɪnt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,903 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for paint, with forms such as "apint", "painnt", and "paintt". 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, "Pan", "pin", "pit", 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 peynten, from Old French peintier, paincter, itself from paint, the past participle of paindre, from Latin pingō (“to paint”) (perfect passive participle pictus). Displaced native Old English tēafor (“paint”), *tīefran (“to paint”); and … The correct English form is paint, spelled P-A-I-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A substance that is applied as a liquid or paste, and dries into a solid coating that protects or adds colour to an object or surface to which it has been applied.
  2. 2
    A set of containers or blocks of paint of different colors/colours, used for painting pictures.
  3. 3
    The free-throw lane, construed with the.
  4. 4
    Paintballs.
  5. 5
    Synonym of face card (king, queen, or jack).
  6. 6
    Graphics drawn using an input device, not scanned or generated.
  7. 7
    Makeup.
  8. 8
    Tattoo work.
  9. 9
    Any substance fixed with latex to harden it.
  10. 10
    The appearance of an object on a radar screen.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. fresh coat of paint
  2. René went back into the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on, got out his paints and started on a new painting. He felt inspired.

Etymology

From Middle English peynten, from Old French peintier, paincter, itself from paint, the past participle of paindre, from Latin pingō (“to paint”) (perfect passive participle pictus). Displaced native Old English tēafor (“paint”), *tīefran (“to paint”); and Old English mētan (“to paint”) and mǣlan (“to paint, mark with colour”).

This word in other languages

pintura(Español)peinture(Français)Farbe(Deutsch)pintura(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apint
  • painnt
  • paintt
  • paitn
  • panit
  • piant
  • ppaint

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of paint - 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.

apint2painnt1paintt1paitn2panit2piant2ppaint1
Edit distance from "paint"

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 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "paint"?
"paint" is spelled P-A-I-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is /peɪnt/.
What does "paint" mean?
As a noun, "paint" means: A substance that is applied as a liquid or paste, and dries into a solid coating that protects or adds colour to an object or surface to which it has been applied.
What words are commonly confused with "paint"?
"paint" is commonly confused with "Pan", "pin", "pit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "paint"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "paint" is /peɪnt/. 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 "paint"?
From Middle English peynten, from Old French peintier, paincter, itself from paint, the past participle of paindre, from Latin pingō (“to paint”) (perfect passive participle pictus). Displaced native Old English tēafor (“paint”), *tīefran (“to pai... 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 "paint", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pilot#2,904steam#2,918debut#2,885thats#2,922

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

brief7 variantsexact7 variantssolar7 variantsseats7 variants

What to do next

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

  • "paint" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Pan". View pair
  • 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #2,903 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