vaccine

/vækˈsin/

//vækˈsin// adj

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

"vaccine" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“vaccine” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,188. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,188
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.

Corpus desk

Index EN-vaccine · vaccine · English

vaccine · rank #7,188 · 8 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,188
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH tits

Nearest frequency peer: tits (-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 “vaccine”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “vaccine” 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).

vaccine vs vaccinate
78% similar

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

Key facts for vaccine
PropertyValue
Headwordvaccine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/vækˈsin/
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,188
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “vaccine”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).vaccinelands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “tits” (#7,187), “vinyl” (#7,189), “telegraph” (#7,186). Among 969 “V” headwords, “vaccine” is #7,188. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around vaccine (IPA /vækˈsin/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #7,188 among 969 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for vaccine, with forms such as "avccine", "vaccien", and "vaccinne". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "vaccinate", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against smallpox: … The correct English form is vaccine, spelled V-A-C-C-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to cowpox as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox; also, of or pertaining to such material used for vaccination.
  3. 3
    Of, pertaining to, or derived from cattle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I will call upon them: they are healthy children, we can have the vaccine infection from them, and I will inoculate the boy myself.
  2. [M]y play could not have been written but for the work done by Sir Almroth Wright in the theory and practice of securing immunization from bacterial diseases by the inoculation of "vaccines" made of their own bacteria: a practice incorrectly called vaccinetherapy (there is nothing vaccine about it) apparently because it is what vaccination ought to be and…

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against smallpox: see New Latin variolae vaccīnae (“cowpox”, plural, literally “infectious diseases of cattle causing pustules”), coined by the British physician and scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • avccine
  • vaccien
  • vaccinne
  • vaccnie
  • vacicne
  • vacine
  • vcacine
  • vvaccine

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vaccine - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

avccine2vaccien2vaccinne1vaccnie2vacicne2vacine1vcacine2vvaccine1
Edit distance from "vaccine"

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 "vaccine"?
"vaccine" is spelled V-A-C-C-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /vækˈsin/.
What does "vaccine" mean?
As an adjective, "vaccine" means: Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
What words are commonly confused with "vaccine"?
"vaccine" is commonly confused with "vaccinate". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vaccine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vaccine" is /vækˈsin/. 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 "vaccine"?
Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against ... 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 "vaccine", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wonders#7,192silicon#7,179screwed#7,176proving#7,171

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

vinyl8 variantsSpurs8 variantsBernie8 variantsclause8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list