saint

/seɪnt/

//seɪnt// noun

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

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

The verdict

“saint” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,584. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,584
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A deceased person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.

Corpus desk

Index EN-saint · saint · English

saint · rank #3,584 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,584
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH root

Nearest frequency peer: root (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “saint”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “saint” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

saint vs san
60% similar
saint vs sit
60% similar
saint vs sat
60% similar

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

Key facts for saint
PropertyValue
Headwordsaint
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/seɪnt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#3,584
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “saint”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).saintlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “root” (#3,583), “steal” (#3,585), “repair” (#3,582). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “saint” is #3,584. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around saint (IPA /seɪnt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,584 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for saint, with forms such as "asint", "sainnt", and "saintt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "san", "sit", "sat", 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 saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sānctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), pa… The correct English form is saint, spelled S-A-I-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A deceased person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.
  2. 2
    One of the blessed in heaven.
  3. 3
    A Christian; a faithful believer in the present world.
  4. 4
    Alternative letter-case form of Saint (“a Mormon, a Latter-day Saint”).
  5. 5
    A person with similarly overwhelming positive qualities; one who does good.
  6. 6
    A holy object.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The Roman Catholic Church proclaimed Kateri Tekakwitha a saint in 2012.
  2. Then ſhall thy Saints unmixt, and from th' impure / Farr ſeparate, circling thy holy Mount / Unfained Halleluiahs to thee ſing,

Etymology

From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sānctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancīre (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Doublet of Sanctus. Displaced native Middle English halwe (“saint”) from Old English hālga (“saint, holy one”) (> Modern English hallow (“saint”)).

Synonyms

hallow

This word in other languages

santo(Español)saint(Français)Heiliger(Deutsch)santo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • asint
  • sainnt
  • saintt
  • saitn
  • sanit
  • siant
  • ssaint

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

asint2sainnt1saintt1saitn2sanit2siant2ssaint1
Edit distance from "saint"

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 "saint"?
"saint" is spelled S-A-I-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is /seɪnt/.
What does "saint" mean?
As a noun, "saint" means: A deceased person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.
What words are commonly confused with "saint"?
"saint" is commonly confused with "san", "sit", "sat". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "saint"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "saint" is /seɪnt/. 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 "saint"?
From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sānctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a s... 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 "saint", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

steal#3,585trans#3,590knife#3,567kings#3,566

Similar misspelling depth

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

butter7 variantsillness7 variantshired7 variantsfoods7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list