main and maine are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. main means “most important element”. maine means “a state in New England”. main is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈmeɪn/
1.adj.most important element
“the chief aim of living”
2.adj.(of a clause) capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence
“the main (or independent) clause in a complex sentence has at least a subject and a verb”
3.adj.of force; of the greatest possible intensity
“by main strength”
| main | maine | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈmeɪn/ | /ˈmeɪn/ |
| Said | mayn | mayn |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| Letters | 4 | 5 |
| Parts of speech | adjective, noun | noun |
| Senses | 5 | 1 |
| How common | Core | Familiar |
| Synonyms | chief, primary, principal | Pine Tree State, ME, Me. |
Full entry for main · Full entry for maine · More comparisons
/ˈmeɪn/
1.n.a state in New England