# bail vs balm

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### bail
*noun · IPA /beɪl/ · frequency rank #6,988*
Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.

### balm
*noun · IPA /bɑːm/ · frequency rank #20,852*
Any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bail-vs-balm