bightvsbiteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bight is a noun, bite is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bight” is a noun and “bite” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,057
“bight” frequency rank
#4,213
“bite” frequency rank
47270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bight bite
Definition A corner, bend, or angle; a hollow To cut into something by clamping the teeth.

Same sound, different letters: bight vs bite

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.

5 ch
bight
4 ch
bite

Homophone desk: bight vs bite

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: bight and bite carry the same recorded pronunciation, /baɪt/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bight is recorded at frequency rank #43,057, classified as anoun, pronounced /baɪt/. bite is at rank #4,213, tagged as averb, pronounced /baɪt/.

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 47270, this pair ranks #203,987 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bight vs bite

Shared letters: bit. Private to "bight": gh. Private to "bite": e.

"bight" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "bite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bightbbight · bgiht · bigght · bighht · bightt · bigth · bihgt · ibght
  • bitebbite · biet · bitte · btie · ibte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bight" and "bite" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bight" is a noun and "bite" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bight" vs "bite" - which ranks higher?
"bite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,213 in our English list, against #43,057 for "bight". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "bight" / "bite". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bight" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,987 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bight" and "bite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bidet vs bight". 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 #203,987 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list