vain

\vɛ̃\

/\vɛ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“vain” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #6,447) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#6,447
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est inutile, qui ne produit rien.

Corpus desk

Index FR-vain · vain · French

vain · rank #6,447 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,447
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH tragique

Nearest frequency peer: tragique (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « vain »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « vain » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

vain vs vi
50% similar
vain vs VN
0% similar
vain vs vie
50% similar

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

Key facts for vain
PropertyValue
Headwordvain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\vɛ̃\
Letters4
Frequency rank#6,447
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « vain »

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « tragique » (#6,446), « vaisseaux » (#6,448), « terreur » (#6,445). Parmi 2,061 lemmes en « V », « vain » est au #6,447. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for vain is neighbouring look-alikes ("vi", "VN", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \vɛ̃\. Frequency #6,447 among 2,061 “V” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for vain, with forms such as "avin", "vainn", and "vani". 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, "vi", "VN", "vie", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is vain, spelled V-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est inutile, qui ne produit rien.
  2. 2
    Qui est frivole, chimérique, qui n’a aucun fondement solide et raisonnable.
  3. 3
    Qui est orgueilleux, plein de vanité.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Marcoul reposait de si étrange façon qu’elle courut chercher l’officier de santé au village, mais c’était vain de lui poser des sangsues derrière les oreilles et de lui inciser les lobes : la paralysie avait envahi les deux cotés du corps.
  2. Nous le rabrouâmes derechef, mais notre contre-attaque fut vaine. L'individu revint à la charge, pour la troisième fois.

Synonyms

dérisoireinutilechimériquefrivolefutileillusoireorgueilleuxvaniteux

This word in other languages

vain(English)vano(Español)eitel(Deutsch)vão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • avin
  • vainn
  • vani
  • vvain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

avin2vainn1vani2vvain1
Edit distance from "vain"

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 "vain"?
"vain" is spelled V-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \vɛ̃\.
What does "vain" mean?
As an adjective, "vain" means: Qui est inutile, qui ne produit rien.
What words are commonly confused with "vain"?
"vain" is commonly confused with "vi", "VN", "vie". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vain" is \vɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vain" come from?
"vain" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "vain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

élue#6,453émis#6,454bars#6,467bond#6,470

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list