villain
/ˈvɪl.ən/
"villain" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“villain” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,624 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,624
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A vile, wicked person.
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 | villain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈvɪl.ən/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #8,624 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “villain” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for villain is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvɪl.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,624 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for villain, with forms such as "ivllain", "vilain", and "vilalin". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "violin", "villainy", "villa", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin vīllānus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin vīlla, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in la… The correct English form is villain, spelled V-I-L-L-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1A vile, wicked person.
- 2A vile, wicked person.
- 3A vile, wicked person.
- 4A low-born, abject person.
- 5A character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.
- 6Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero (“the current player”).
- 7Archaic form of villein (“feudal tenant, peasant, serf”).
Etymology
Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin vīllānus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin vīlla, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. Doublet of villein.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ivllain,vilain,vilalin,villainn,villani,villian,vlilain,vvillain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of villain - 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.
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 “villain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-I-L-L-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvɪl.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “violin” - see the side-by-side comparison. villain vs violin
- 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.