# beam vs bel

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### beam
*noun · IPA /biːm/ · frequency rank #5,659*
Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

### bel
*noun · IPA /bɛl/ · frequency rank #16,644*
A measure of relative power, defined as log₁₀(P ₁/P ₂), where P₁ and P₂ are the measured and reference power respectively.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beam-vs-bel