plain

/\plɛ̃\/ adj

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#17,230

in French word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

plain is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui est uni, plat, sans inégalités. Pronounced \plɛ̃\. Often confused with pli and plan.

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

Frequency rank visualization

Position of plain in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for plain is 5 letters long, classified as anadj, 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 Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for plain, with forms such as "plainn", "plani", and "plian". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, 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, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is plain, spelled P-L-A-I-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

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.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: plainn,plani,plian,pllain,pplain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for plain

Misspelling Variants of "plain"

plainn6plani5plian5pllain6pplain6
Misspelling Variants of "plain"

Frequency rank: #17,230 in French

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 adj, "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 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.