germain
\ʒɛʁ.mɛ̃\
The verdict
“germain” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #4,945 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #4,945
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - De mêmes père et mère, par opposition à consanguin (de même père et de mères différentes) et à utérin (de même mère et de pères différents).
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 | germain |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ʒɛʁ.mɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,945 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “germain” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for germain is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʒɛʁ.mɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,945 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for germain, with forms such as "egrmain", "gemrain", and "geramin". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "grain", "German", "Gervais", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is germain, spelled G-E-R-M-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1De mêmes père et mère, par opposition à consanguin (de même père et de mères différentes) et à utérin (de même mère et de pères différents).
- 2Issu de deux frères, de deux sœurs, ou du frère et de la sœur.
- 3Voisin, analogue, semblable.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: egrmain,gemrain,geramin,germainn,germani,germian,germmain,gerrmain,ggermain,gremain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of germain - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "germain"?
What does "germain" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "germain"?
How do you pronounce "germain"?
What language does "germain" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “germain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is G-E-R-M-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʒɛʁ.mɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “grain” - see the side-by-side comparison. germain vs grain
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.