rain
/ˈɹeɪ̯n/
"rain" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rain” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2,012) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #2,012
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Condensed water falling from a cloud.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rain · rain · English
rain · rank #2,012 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,012
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH purchase
Nearest frequency peer: purchase (-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 “rain”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- promise
promise
97,992 corpus weight
- proposed
proposed
97,991 corpus weight
- purchase
purchase
97,990 corpus weight
- rain
rain
97,989 corpus weight
- remove
remove
97,988 corpus weight
- signs
signs
97,987 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “rain” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | rain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹeɪ̯n/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,012 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rain” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for rain is neighbouring look-alikes ("RN", "RI", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈɹeɪ̯n/. Frequency #2,012 among 3,094 “R” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for rain, with forms such as "arin", "rainn", and "rian". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "RN", "RI", "run", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *Hréǵʰ-der. Proto-Indo-European *Hréǵʰnos? Proto-Germanic *regną Proto-West Germanic *regn Old English reġn Middle English reyn English rain Inherited from Middle English reyn, rein, from Old English reġn, from Proto-West … The correct English form is rain, spelled R-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1Condensed water falling from a cloud.
- 2Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.
- 3An instance of particles or larger pieces of matter moving or falling through air.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rain appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We've been having a lot of rain lately.
The rains came late that year.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *Hréǵʰ-der. Proto-Indo-European *Hréǵʰnos? Proto-Germanic *regną Proto-West Germanic *regn Old English reġn Middle English reyn English rain Inherited from Middle English reyn, rein, from Old English reġn, from Proto-West Germanic *regn, from Proto-Germanic *regną, of uncertain origin. Possibly from pre-Germanic *Hréǵ-no-, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreǵ- (“to flow”), although the consonant reflexes don't match. Cognates Cognate with Yola rhyne, ryne (“rain”), North Frisian Riin, rin (“rain”), Saterland Frisian Rien (“rain”), West Frisian rein (“rain”), Dutch regen (“rain”), Limburgish raenger, Rään (“rain”), German Low German Regen, Ręgen, Rägen (“rain”), Luxembourgish Reen (“rain”), German Regen (“rain”), Mòcheno reng (“rain”), Vilamovian raan (“rain”), Alemannic German regu, räge, rägä (“rain”), Bavarian Regn, rein (“rain”), Cimbrian regan, réego, reng (“rain”), Yiddish רעגן (regn, “rain”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish regn (“rain”), Crimean Gothic reghen (“rain”), Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌽 (rign, “rain”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- arin
- rainn
- rian
- rrain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rain - 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.
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 "rain"?
What does "rain" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rain", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "rain". Here's where to go from here.
- "rain" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "RN". View pair
- 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #2,012 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "R" letter cohort. R–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.