plain
\plɛ̃\
The verdict
“plain” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #17,230 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #17,230
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est uni, plat, sans inégalités.
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 | plain |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \plɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #17,230 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “plain” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for plain is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \plɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #17,230 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for plain, with forms such as "plainn", "plani", and "plian". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pli", "plan", "plat", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is plain, spelled P-L-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1Qui est uni, plat, sans inégalités.
- 2Écru, non ouvré.
- 3Plain (mot invariable en ce cas) est utilisé en héraldique pour désigner un écu uni, dont le champ « plain » est d'une seule couleur (que cette couleur héraldique soit un émail, un métal ou une fourrure mouchetée), c'est-à-dire qu'il n'est chargé d'aucune figure, il est sans chargeüre.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: plainn,plani,plian,pllain,pplain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plain - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “plain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-L-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \plɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pli” - see the side-by-side comparison. plain vs pli
- 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.