Beside or besides?
beside is a preposition meaning “Next to; at the side of”; besides is a preposition meaning “In addition to”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) besides is about 2.8 times as common as beside.
What is the difference between beside and besides?
| beside | besides | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | preposition, adverb | preposition, adverb |
| Meaning | Next to; at the side of Not relevant to Otherwise; else; in addition; besides | In addition to Other than; except for; instead of Also; in addition |
| Example | A small table beside the bed | Besides José, I'll invite Jay and Renée, the three of them |
| Pronunciation | /bɪˈsaɪd/ /biˈsaɪd/ | /bɪˈsaɪdz/ /bəˈsaɪdz/ |
| In writing | 15 times per million words | 43 times per million words |
Sources: beside and besides 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 beside and besides
beside
- 1
Next to; at the side of
A small table beside the bed
- 2
Otherwise; else; in addition; besides
- 3
Not relevant to
That is beside the point / beside the topic / beside the subject / beside the focus of this discussion
- 4
Besides; in addition to
I'll need another dictionary beside this one
besides
- 1
In addition to
Besides José, I'll invite Jay and Renée, the three of them
- 2
Also; in addition
We've paid for your whole education and plenty more besides!
- 3
Other than; except for; instead of
I don't want to go anywhere besides India
- 4
Used to emphasize an additional point, especially an important or stronger reason; moreover; furthermore
I don't feel like going out tonight. Besides, I have to work tomorrow morning anyway
- 5
informalBeside, next to
- 6
Otherwise; else
I have been to Spain but nowhere besides
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, beside or besides?
beside appears 15 times per million words; besides 43 times per million words.
beside 15 times per million wordsbesides 43 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search beside vs besides?
“beside vs besides” is searched about 1,300 times a month on Google and 70 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“besides vs beside”, “beside or besides”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.