refrain

\ʁə.fʁɛ̃\

/\ʁə.fʁɛ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“refrain” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,461. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,461
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Un ou plusieurs mots qui se répètent à la fin de chaque couplet d’une chanson, d’une ballade, d’un rondeau, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-refrain · refrain · French

refrain · rank #13,461 · 10 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,461
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH recrues

Nearest frequency peer: recrues (-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 « refrain »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « refrain » 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).

refrain vs regain
71% similar
refrain vs retrait
71% similar
refrain vs refrains
88% similar

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

Key facts for refrain
PropertyValue
Headwordrefrain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁə.fʁɛ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#13,461
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « refrain »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).refrainse 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 « recrues » (#13,460), « regagner » (#13,462), « recherchent » (#13,459). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « refrain » est au #13,461. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around refrain (IPA \ʁə.fʁɛ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,461 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for refrain, with forms such as "erfrain", "refarin", and "reffrain". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "regain", "retrait", "refrains", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is refrain, spelled R-E-F-R-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Un ou plusieurs mots qui se répètent à la fin de chaque couplet d’une chanson, d’une ballade, d’un rondeau, etc.
  2. 2
    Ce qu’une personne ramène sans cesse, à toute occasion, dans ses propos.
  3. 3
    Retour des houles ou grosses vagues qui viennent se briser contre les rochers.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Et, au moment où je sors, j’entends un refrain d’opérette s’échapper de la bouche en cœur de M. Caterna.
  2. S’accompagnant de son gimbri, il nous chante, d’une voix tantôt gutturale, tantôt nasillarde, d’interminables mélopées, que l’assistance reprend aux refrains avec des battements rythmiques des mains.

This word in other languages

refrain(English)estribillo(Español)Refrain(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • erfrain
  • refarin
  • reffrain
  • refrainn
  • refrani
  • refrian
  • refrrain
  • rerfain
  • rferain
  • rrefrain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

erfrain2refarin2reffrain1refrainn1refrani2refrian2refrrain1rerfain2
Edit distance from "refrain"

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 "refrain"?
"refrain" is spelled R-E-F-R-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁə.fʁɛ̃\.
What does "refrain" mean?
As a noun, "refrain" means: Un ou plusieurs mots qui se répètent à la fin de chaque couplet d’une chanson, d’une ballade, d’un rondeau, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "refrain"?
"refrain" is commonly confused with "regain", "retrait", "refrains". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "refrain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "refrain" is \ʁə.fʁɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "refrain" come from?
"refrain" 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 "refrain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

recrues#13,460rétabli#13,470poteaux#13,446soupçon#13,481

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

spoiler10 variantsoffensif10 variantsagresser10 variantsarrêtait10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list