spin
/spɪn/
"spin" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spin” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,786 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #3,786
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
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 | spin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /spɪn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,786 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spin” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for spin is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /spɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,786 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for spin, with forms such as "psin", "sipn", and "spinn". 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, "sun", "spy", "STI", 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 spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-. Cognates Cognate with Dutch, German spinnen (“to spin”), Luxembourgish spannen (“to spin”), Yiddish שפּינען (shpinen, “spin”), Danish … The correct English form is spin, spelled S-P-I-N.
Definition
- 1To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
- 2To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
- 3To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
- 4To make yarn by twisting and winding fibers together.
- 5To present, describe, or interpret, or to introduce a bias or slant, so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance.
- 6To make the ball move sideways when it bounces on the pitch.
- 7To move sideways when bouncing.
- 8To form into thin strips or ribbons, as with sugar
- 9To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, etc.) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.
- 10To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe.
- 11To move swiftly.
- 12To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet.
- 13To wait in a loop until some condition becomes true.
- 14To rotate into the gravel or managing to remain on the straight as a result of bad weather.
- 15To play (vinyl records, etc.) as a disc jockey.
- 16To use an exercise bicycle, especially as part of a gym class.
- 17To ride a bicycle at a fast cadence.
- 18To search rapidly.
- 19To draw out tediously; prolong.
- 20To fish with a swivel or spoonbait.
- 21To reject at an examination; to fail (a student).
Etymology
From Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-. Cognates Cognate with Dutch, German spinnen (“to spin”), Luxembourgish spannen (“to spin”), Yiddish שפּינען (shpinen, “spin”), Danish spinde (“to spin”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish spinna (“to spin”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk spinne (“to spin”), Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (spinnan, “to spin”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: psin,sipn,spinn,spni,sppin,sspin
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spin - 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
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Using “spin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /spɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sun” - see the side-by-side comparison. spin vs sun
- 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.