swine

/swaɪn/

//swaɪn// noun

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

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

The verdict

“swine” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,928. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,928
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 pig (the animal).

Corpus desk

Index EN-swine · swine · English

swine · rank #15,928 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,928
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH SWAT

Nearest frequency peer: SWAT (-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 “swine”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “swine” 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).

swine vs swing
80% similar
swine vs Swiss
40% similar
swine vs swipe
80% similar

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

Key facts for swine
PropertyValue
Headwordswine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/swaɪn/
Letters5
Frequency rank#15,928
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “swine”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).swinelands 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 “SWAT” (#15,927), “symbolism” (#15,929), “surrounds” (#15,926). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “swine” is #15,928. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around swine (IPA /swaɪn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,928 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for swine, with forms such as "siwne", "sswine", and "swien". 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, "swing", "Swiss", "swipe", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swyn, swin, from Old English swīn, from Proto-West Germanic *swīn, from Proto-Germanic *swīną, from an adjectival form of Proto-Indo-European *suH- (“pig”). Cognates Related to West Frisian swyn, Low German Swien, Dutch zwijn, German Sch… The correct English form is swine, spelled S-W-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A pig (the animal).
  2. 2
    A pig (the animal). The Zimmerman farm introduced swine to their husbandry.
  3. 3
    A contemptible person (plural swine or swines).
  4. 4
    A police officer; a "pig".
  5. 5
    Something difficult or awkward; a pain.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. That old car is a swine to manoeuvre.

Etymology

From Middle English swyn, swin, from Old English swīn, from Proto-West Germanic *swīn, from Proto-Germanic *swīną, from an adjectival form of Proto-Indo-European *suH- (“pig”). Cognates Related to West Frisian swyn, Low German Swien, Dutch zwijn, German Schwein, Danish and Swedish svin, and more distantly to Polish świnia, Russian свинья́ (svinʹjá), Latin sūinus, Latin sūs, Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs), Persian خوک (xuk).

This word in other languages

cerdo(Español)porc(Français)Schwein(Deutsch)canalha(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • siwne
  • sswine
  • swien
  • swinne
  • swnie
  • swwine
  • wsine

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of swine - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

siwne2sswine1swien2swinne1swnie2swwine1wsine2
Edit distance from "swine"

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 "swine"?
"swine" is spelled S-W-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /swaɪn/.
What does "swine" mean?
As a noun, "swine" means: A pig (the animal).
What words are commonly confused with "swine"?
"swine" is commonly confused with "swing", "Swiss", "swipe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "swine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "swine" is /swaɪn/. 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 "swine"?
From Middle English swyn, swin, from Old English swīn, from Proto-West Germanic *swīn, from Proto-Germanic *swīną, from an adjectival form of Proto-Indo-European *suH- (“pig”). Cognates Related to West Frisian swyn, Low German Swien, Dutch zwijn, ... 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 "swine", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

stink#15,922stalk#15,919snowy#15,913smear#15,912

Similar misspelling depth

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

siren7 variantspenal7 variantsNYPD7 variantsenroll7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list