Which to use
“bee” and “bevy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,114
- “bee” frequency rank
- #49,788
- “bevy” frequency rank
- 55902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bee | bevy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey. | A group of animals, particularly quail. |
Where the eye mixes bee and bevy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bee and bevy
A purely visual mix-up. bee (/ˈbiː/) and bevy (/ˈbɛvi/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bee is recorded at frequency rank #6,114, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbiː/. bevy is at rank #49,788, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɛvi/.
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 55902, this pair ranks #130,081 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bee vs bevy
Shared letters: be. Private to "bee": -. Private to "bevy": vy.
"bee" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "bevy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- bevy ← bbevy · bevvy · bevyy · beyv · bvey · ebvy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bee" for "bevy" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bee" or "bevy"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bevy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,081 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bee" and "bevy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bendy vs bevy". 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 #130,081 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.