Which to use
“bast” and “beasts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,486
- “bast” frequency rank
- #11,168
- “beasts” frequency rank
- 58654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bast | beasts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made. | plural of beast |
Where the eye mixes bast and beasts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bast runs 4 letters (CVCC) against beasts's 6 (CVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between bast and beasts
A purely visual mix-up. bast (/bɑːst/) and beasts (/biːsts/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58654, 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/. beasts is at rank #11,168, tagged as anoun, pronounced /biːsts/.
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 58654, this pair ranks #111,167 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bast vs beasts
Shared letters: abst. Private to "bast": -. Private to "beasts": e.
"bast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "beasts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bast" for "beasts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bast" vs "beasts" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "beasts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,167 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bast" and "beasts" 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 #111,167 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.