plain

\plɛ̃\

/\plɛ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“plain” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #17,230. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,230
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est uni, plat, sans inégalités.

Corpus desk

Index FR-plain · plain · French

plain · rank #17,230 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,230
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH plafonds

Nearest frequency peer: plafonds (-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 « plain »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « plain » 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).

plain vs pli
60% similar
plain vs plan
80% similar
plain vs plat
60% similar

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

Key facts for plain
PropertyValue
Headwordplain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\plɛ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#17,230
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « plain »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).plainse 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 « plafonds » (#17,229), « Planet » (#17,231), « physicien » (#17,228). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « plain » est au #17,230. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around plain (IPA \plɛ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #17,230 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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

  1. 1
    Qui est uni, plat, sans inégalités.
  2. 2
    Écru, non ouvré.
  3. 3
    Plain (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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ce terrain est plain. La plaine campagne.
  2. Les deux plateaux peuvent ne pas porter, pourtant, les mêmes poids ; pour revenir à un fléau plain, il suffit de changer la longueur des bras.

This word in other languages

eben(Deutsch)

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.

plainn1plani2plian2pllain1pplain1
Edit distance from "plain"

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 "plain"?
"plain" is spelled P-L-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \plɛ̃\.
What does "plain" mean?
As an adjective, "plain" means: Qui est uni, plat, sans inégalités.
What words are commonly confused with "plain"?
"plain" is commonly confused with "pli", "plan", "plat". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "plain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "plain" is \plɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "plain" come from?
"plain" 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 "plain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Quinn#17,241opera#17,210rocky#17,257munis#17,198

Similar misspelling depth

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

papi5 variantsJune5 variantsessuie5 variantsEllis5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list