remain
/ɹɪˈmeɪn/
"remain" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“remain” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,574. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,574
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That which is left; relic; remainder.
Corpus desk
Index EN-remain · remain · English
remain · rank #1,574 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,574
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH realize
Nearest frequency peer: realize (-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 “remain”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- previously
previously
98,429 corpus weight
- realize
realize
98,428 corpus weight
- remain
remain
98,427 corpus weight
- scale
scale
98,426 corpus weight
- score
score
98,425 corpus weight
- separate
separate
98,424 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “remain” 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 | remain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹɪˈmeɪn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,574 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “remain” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around remain (IPA /ɹɪˈmeɪn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,574 among 3,094 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for remain, with forms such as "ermain", "reamin", and "remainn". 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, "Remi", "roman", "remix", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English remainen, from Old French remain-, stressed stem of remanoir, from Latin remaneō, maneō, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stay”). Displaced native Middle English beliven, bliven (“to remain”) (from Old English belīfan (“to remain, sta… The correct English form is remain, spelled R-E-M-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1That which is left; relic; remainder.
- 2That which is left of a human being after the life is gone; relics; a dead body.
- 3Posthumous works or productions, especially literary works.
- 4State of remaining; stay.
Etymology
From Middle English remainen, from Old French remain-, stressed stem of remanoir, from Latin remaneō, maneō, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stay”). Displaced native Middle English beliven, bliven (“to remain”) (from Old English belīfan (“to remain, stay”)) due to confluence with related Middle English beleven (“to leave behind”), with which it merged. More at beleave and belive.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ermain
- reamin
- remainn
- remani
- remian
- remmain
- rmeain
- rremain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of remain - 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
How do you spell "remain"?
What does "remain" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "remain"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "remain", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "remain". Here's where to go from here.
- "remain" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Remi". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,574 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.