Beat or bet?
beat is a noun meaning “A stroke; a blow”; bet is a preposition meaning “between”. Use beat as a noun and bet as a preposition (bet is also a noun: “A wager, an agreement between two parties that a stake…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) beat is about 1.7 times as common as bet.
What is the difference between beat and bet?
| beat | bet | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, adjective | noun, verb, interjection, preposition |
| Meaning | A stroke; a blow A pulsation or throb To hit; to strike | A wager, an agreement between two parties that a stake (usually money) will be paid by the loser to the winner (the winner being the one who correctly forecast… informalA candidate (for elections and pageants) or competitor (in multinational sports) To stake or pledge upon the outcome of an event; to wager |
| Example | a beat of the heart | Dylan owes Fletcher $30 from an unsuccessful bet |
| Forms | beats | bets, betting, betted |
| Pronunciation | /biːt/ /bɛt/ | /bɛt/ |
| In writing | 102 times per million words | 62 times per million words |
Sources: beat and bet 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 beat and bet
beat
- 1
A stroke; a blow
- 2
To hit; to strike
As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled
- 3
simple past tense of beat
- 4
USslangExhausted
After the long day, she was feeling completely beat
- 5
A beatnik
- 6
Relating to the Beat Generation
beat poetry
- 7
A pulsation or throb
a beat of the heart
- 8
To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm
He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque
bet
- 1
A wager, an agreement between two parties that a stake (usually money) will be paid by the loser to the winner (the winner being the one who correctly forecast the outcome of an event)
Dylan owes Fletcher $30 from an unsuccessful bet
- 2
To stake or pledge upon the outcome of an event; to wager
I('ll) bet I can run faster than you
- 3
Expression of general agreement or acceptance
- 4
Alternative form of beth (“Semitic letter”)
- 5
between
- 6
An adsorption technique used to measure the specific surface area of a solid, typically using nitrogen gas at a temperature of 77 K
- 7
Abbreviation of between
- 8
informalA candidate (for elections and pageants) or competitor (in multinational sports)
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, beat or bet?
beat appears 102 times per million words; bet 62 times per million words.
beat 102 times per million wordsbet 62 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).