Which to use
“bast” and “bays” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,486
- “bast” frequency rank
- #19,021
- “bays” frequency rank
- 66507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bast | bays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made. | plural of bay |
Where the eye mixes bast and bays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bast vs bays
A purely visual mix-up. bast (/bɑːst/) and bays (/beɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bast is recorded at frequency rank #47,486, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɑːst/. bays is at rank #19,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced /beɪz/.
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 66507, this pair ranks #67,666 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bast vs bays
Shared letters: abs. Private to "bast": t. Private to "bays": y.
"bast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bast" and "bays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "bast" or "bays" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bast" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,666 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bast" and "bays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bast 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 #67,666 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.