Bait or bate?
bait is a noun meaning “Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by…”; bate is a verb meaning “To reduce the force of something; to abate”. Use bait as a noun and bate as a verb (bate is also a noun: “Strife; contention”). They sound the same (/beɪt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) bait is about 12 times as common as bate.
What is the difference between bait and bate?
| bait | bate | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, adjective, suffix | verb, noun |
| Meaning | Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net Food containing poison or a harmful additive to kill animals that are pests To attract with bait; to entice | To reduce the force of something; to abate To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation Strife; contention |
| Example | attach bait to a hook | What bate are you on now = where are you going and why ? The dog is on some bate = is finding or following a scent |
| Forms | baits | bates, bating, bated |
| Pronunciation | /beɪt/ | /beɪt/ |
| In writing | 7.1 times per million words | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: bait and bate in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of bait and bate
bait
- 1
Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net
attach bait to a hook
- 2
To attract with bait; to entice
- 3
To set dogs on (an animal etc.) to bite or worry; to attack with dogs, especially for sport
to bait a bear with dogs
- 4
Obvious; blatant
- 5
Forms nouns which refer to acts of manipulation or manipulative material which seek to elicit a particular response
- 6
Food containing poison or a harmful additive to kill animals that are pests
- 7
To affix bait to a trap or a fishing hook or fishing line
- 8
To intentionally annoy, torment, or threaten by constant rebukes or threats; to harass
bate
- 1
To reduce the force of something; to abate
- 2
Strife; contention
- 3
To contend or strive with blows or arguments
- 4
An alkaline lye which neutralizes the effect of the previous application of lime, and makes hides supple in the process of tanning
- 5
To soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate
- 6
slangClipping of masturbate
- 7
Irelanddirection, course, track
What bate are you on now = where are you going and why ? The dog is on some bate = is finding or following a scent
- 8
To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, bait or bate?
bait appears 7.1 times per million words; bate about once in every 2 million words.
bait 7.1 times per million wordsbate about once in every 2 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search bait vs bate?
“bait vs bate” is searched about 110 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“bate vs bait”, “bait or bate”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.