pain

\pɛ̃\

/\pɛ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pain” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,925. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,925
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pâte cuite au four, à base de farine, d’eau et de levure de boulanger ou de levain.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pain · pain · French

pain · rank #1,925 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,925
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH mille

Nearest frequency peer: mille (-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 « pain »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pain » 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).

pain vs pi
50% similar
pain vs PN
0% similar
pain vs pas
50% similar

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

Key facts for pain
PropertyValue
Headwordpain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɛ̃\
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,925
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pain »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).painse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « mille » (#1,924), « paroles » (#1,926), « juifs » (#1,923). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pain » est au #1,925. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around pain (IPA \pɛ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,925 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for pain, with forms such as "apin", "painn", and "pani". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pi", "PN", "pas", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is pain, spelled P-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pâte cuite au four, à base de farine, d’eau et de levure de boulanger ou de levain.
  2. 2
    Morceau de pain considéré en tant qu’unité de cuisson ou de vente, en général sous une forme définie : une baguette de pain, un pain de campagne, un pain azyme, …
  3. 3
    Baguette de 400 grammes (le terme baguette étant dans ce cas réservé à la baguette de 250 grammes).
  4. 4
    Tout objet qui prend la forme d’un pain.
  5. 5
    Nourriture, moyens de subsistance.
  6. 6
    Coup de poing.
  7. 7
    Erreur grossière, fausse note, couac.
  8. 8
    Jour de prison.
  9. 9
    Crush, personne pour qui on a une attirance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Sophie emportait dans un petit panier du pain, qu’elle émiettait aux poules.
  2. […], voilà vingt ans que ça durait ; tout en piochant ferme, et en ne vivant que de pain et de pommes de terre, il avaient pu, tout juste, payer les intérêts et les frais de renouvellement.

Synonyms

brignolet

This word in other languages

bread(English)pan(Español)Brot(Deutsch)pão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apin
  • painn
  • pani
  • pian
  • ppain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pain - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

apin2painn1pani2pian2ppain1
Edit distance from "pain"

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 "pain"?
"pain" is spelled P-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛ̃\.
What does "pain" mean?
As a noun, "pain" means: Pâte cuite au four, à base de farine, d’eau et de levure de boulanger ou de levain.
What words are commonly confused with "pain"?
"pain" is commonly confused with "pi", "PN", "pas". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pain" is \pɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pain" come from?
"pain" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "pain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

perd#1,928dure#1,912gare#1,953info#1,957

Similar misspelling depth

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

aimes5 variantsnice5 variantsPost5 variantsHTTP5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list