rain
/ˈɹeɪ̯n/
"rain" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rain” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,012 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,012
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Condensed water falling from a cloud.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rain is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹeɪ̯n/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,012 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 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 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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “rain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹeɪ̯n/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “RN” - see the side-by-side comparison. rain vs RN
- 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.