spin
/spɪn/
"spin" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spin” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,786. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,786
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
Corpus desk
Index EN-spin · spin · English
spin · rank #3,786 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,786
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sixth
Nearest frequency peer: sixth (-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 “spin”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- rocks
rocks
96,218 corpus weight
- shaped
shaped
96,217 corpus weight
- sixth
sixth
96,216 corpus weight
- spin
spin
96,215 corpus weight
- subjects
subjects
96,213 corpus weight
- sucks
sucks
96,212 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “spin” 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 | 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
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around spin (IPA /spɪn/), averb. Corpus frequency is #3,786 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 21 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how spin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I spun myself around a few times.
Spin the ball on the floor.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "spin", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "spin". Here's where to go from here.
- "spin" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "sun". View pair
- 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #3,786 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–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.