Beano or bingo?
beano is a noun meaning “A beanfeast; any noisy celebration, a party”; bingo is a noun meaning “A game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) bingo is about 25 times as common as beano.
What is the difference between beano and bingo?
| beano | bingo | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun, interjection, adjective, verb |
| Meaning | A beanfeast; any noisy celebration, a party Any home-made gas or indigestion remedy | A game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as they are announced by the caller; the game is won by the first person to call out… A similar game or amusement in which participants tick off themed words, phrases or pictures as these are called out, or as they are mentioned, for example… Used by players of bingo to claim a win |
| Example | none recorded | He plays bingo with his family on Saturdays |
| Forms | beanos | bingos |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbiːnəʊ/ | /ˈbɪŋ.ɡəʊ/ /ˈbɪŋ.ɡoʊ/ |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words | 5.1 times per million words |
Sources: beano and bingo in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of beano and bingo
beano
- 1
A beanfeast; any noisy celebration, a party
- 2
Alternative form of bingo (“game of chance”)
- 3
Any home-made gas or indigestion remedy
bingo
- 1
A game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as they are announced by the caller; the game is won by the first person to call out "bingo!" or "house!" after crossing off…
He plays bingo with his family on Saturdays
- 2
Used by players of bingo to claim a win
- 3
USslangJust sufficient to return to base (or, alternatively, to divert to an alternative airfield). (also written Bingo or BINGO)
- 4
To play the game of bingo
- 5
Alternative letter-case form of bingo
- 6
Alternative letter-case form of bingo
- 7
USslangAlternative letter-case form of bingo (“just sufficient to return to base”)
- 8
A similar game or amusement in which participants tick off themed words, phrases or pictures as these are called out, or as they are mentioned, for example during a speech or performance
animal bingo (animal pictures), ABBA bingo (titles or lyrics of ABBA songs), buzzword bingo
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, beano or bingo?
beano appears about once in every 5 million words; bingo 5.1 times per million words.
beano about once in every 5 million wordsbingo 5.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).