machin

\ma.ʃɛ̃\

/\ma.ʃɛ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“machin” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #10,738. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,738
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mot général utilisé pour désigner une notion ou un objet qu’on ne veut pas ou qu’on ne sait pas nommer plus précisément (pour une personne on dit : Machin).

Corpus desk

Index FR-machin · machin · French

machin · rank #10,738 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,738
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH lise

Nearest frequency peer: lise (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « machin »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « machin » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

machin vs main
67% similar
machin vs matin
67% similar
machin vs marin
67% similar

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

Key facts for machin
PropertyValue
Headwordmachin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ma.ʃɛ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#10,738
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « machin »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.machinse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « lise » (#10,737), « martial » (#10,739), « liquides » (#10,736). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « machin » est au #10,738. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around machin (IPA \ma.ʃɛ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,738 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for machin, with forms such as "amchin", "macchin", and "machhin". 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, "main", "matin", "marin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is machin, spelled M-A-C-H-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mot général utilisé pour désigner une notion ou un objet qu’on ne veut pas ou qu’on ne sait pas nommer plus précisément (pour une personne on dit : Machin).
  2. 2
    S'emploie également quand le contexte permet de préciser le sens.
  3. 3
    Pour remplacer certains mots tabous.
  4. 4
    Pour désigner une chose incongrue.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Je n’allais donc pas me joindre à un homme qui voulait livrer l’âme de son peuple en pâture aux haut-parleurs et aux machins totalitaires, pour qu’elle fût brassée et broyée jusqu’à devenir cette pulpe méconnaissable : les masses.
  2. C’est sans doute un machin qui m'a piqué, j’ai un gros bouton.

This word in other languages

thingy(English)chisme(Español)Zeug(Deutsch)troço(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amchin
  • macchin
  • machhin
  • machinn
  • machni
  • macihn
  • mahcin
  • mcahin
  • mmachin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of machin - 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.

amchin2macchin1machhin1machinn1machni2macihn2mahcin2mcahin2
Edit distance from "machin"

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 "machin"?
"machin" is spelled M-A-C-H-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ma.ʃɛ̃\.
What does "machin" mean?
As a noun, "machin" means: Mot général utilisé pour désigner une notion ou un objet qu’on ne veut pas ou qu’on ne sait pas nommer plus précisément (pour une personne on dit : Machin).
What words are commonly confused with "machin"?
"machin" is commonly confused with "main", "matin", "marin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "machin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "machin" is \ma.ʃɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "machin" come from?
"machin" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "machin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

meuble#10,741Miguel#10,744obscur#10,756palace#10,759

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

girard9 variantsfreins9 variantsfrappée9 variantssignés9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list