basesvsbeesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“bases” and “bees” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,295
“bases” frequency rank
#7,529
“bees” frequency rank
12824
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bases bees
Definition plural of base plural of bee

Where the eye mixes bases and bees

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bases
4 ch
bees

Visual trap between bases and bees

A purely visual mix-up. bases (/ˈbeɪsɪz/) and bees (/ˈbiːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bases is recorded at frequency rank #5,295, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbeɪsɪz/. bees is at rank #7,529, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbiːz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 12824, this pair ranks #479,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bases vs bees

Shared letters: bes. Private to "bases": a. Private to "bees": -.

"bases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • basesabses · baess · basess · basses · bbases · bsaes
  • beesbbees · beess · bese · ebes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bases" and "bees" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbeɪsɪz/ versus /ˈbiːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bases" vs "bees" - which ranks higher?
"bases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,295 in our English list, against #7,529 for "bees". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bases" and "bees" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bases" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #479,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bases" and "bees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bees vs BFS". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #479,356 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list