# bane vs be

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### bane
*noun · IPA /beɪn/ · frequency rank #20,563*
A cause of misery or ruin.

### be
*verb · IPA /biː/ · frequency rank #17*
As an auxiliary verb:

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