Babel
/ˈbeɪ.bl̩/
"babel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Babel” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,287. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #32,287
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The city and tower in the land of Shinar where the confusion of languages took place, according to the Bible.
Corpus desk
Index EN-babel · Babel · English
Babel · rank #32,287 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #32,287
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH automata
Nearest frequency peer: automata (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “Babel”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- asexual
asexual
67,718 corpus weight
- automata
automata
67,715 corpus weight
- Babel
Babel
67,714 corpus weight
- balding
balding
67,713 corpus weight
- ballon
ballon
67,712 corpus weight
- banding
banding
67,711 corpus weight
What this shows “Babel” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Babel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪ.bl̩/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #32,287 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Babel”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around Babel (IPA /ˈbeɪ.bl̩/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #32,287 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The city and tower in the land of Shinar where the confusion of languages took place, according to the Bible.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Babel, with forms such as "babbel", "babell", and "baebl". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "BAE", "bel", "bal", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Babel, from Biblical Hebrew בָּבֶל (bāḇel, “Babylon”), from Akkadian 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (Bābilim); in Genesis associated with the idea of confusion. Doublet of Babylon. The correct English form is Babel, spelled B-A-B-E-L.
Definition
- 1The city and tower in the land of Shinar where the confusion of languages took place, according to the Bible.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Babel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel[…]
Etymology
From Latin Babel, from Biblical Hebrew בָּבֶל (bāḇel, “Babylon”), from Akkadian 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (Bābilim); in Genesis associated with the idea of confusion. Doublet of Babylon.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- babbel
- babell
- baebl
- bbabel
- bbael
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Babel - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Babel", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).