baby
/ˈbeɪ̯.bi/
"baby" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“baby” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #547. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #547
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
Corpus desk
Index EN-baby · baby · English
baby · rank #547 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #547
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH type
Nearest frequency peer: type (-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 “baby”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- meet
meet
99,457 corpus weight
- program
program
99,456 corpus weight
- type
type
99,455 corpus weight
- baby
baby
99,454 corpus weight
- chance
chance
99,453 corpus weight
- father
father
99,452 corpus weight
What this shows “baby” 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 | baby |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪ̯.bi/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #547 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “baby”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around baby (IPA /ˈbeɪ̯.bi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #547 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for baby, with forms such as "babby", "babyy", and "bayb". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BB", "bad", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō-redup. Proto-Germanic *babô Proto-West Germanic *babō Old English *baba Middle English babe Old English -iġ Middle English -y Middle English baby English baby From Middle English baby, babie (“baby… The correct English form is baby, spelled B-A-B-Y.
Definition
- 1A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
- 2A very young human, even if not yet born.
- 3Any very young animal, especially a vertebrate; many species have specific names for their babies, such as kittens for the babies of cats, puppies for the babies of dogs, and chicks for the babies of birds. See :Category:Baby animals for more.
- 4A person who is immature, infantile, or feeble.
- 5A person who is new to or inexperienced in something.
- 6The lastborn of a family; the youngest sibling, irrespective of age.
- 7A person's romantic partner; a term of endearment used to refer to or address e.g. one's girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse.
- 8A form of address to a person considered to be attractive.
- 9A concept or creation endeared by its creator.
- 10A pet project or responsibility.
- 11An affectionate term for anything.
- 12A small image of an infant; a doll.
- 13One who is new to an identity or community.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how baby appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The baby new to earth and sky, What time his tender palm is prest Against the circle of the breast, Has never thought that ‘this is I:’ […]
In that film, I often hid my head in my hands, unable to watch scenes about dead babies and diving into gruesome lavatories.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō-redup. Proto-Germanic *babô Proto-West Germanic *babō Old English *baba Middle English babe Old English -iġ Middle English -y Middle English baby English baby From Middle English baby, babie (“baby”), a diminutive form of babe (“babe, baby”), equivalent to babe + -y/-ie (“endearing and diminutive suffix”). Perhaps ultimately imitative of baby talk (compare babble).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- babby
- babyy
- bayb
- bbaby
- bbay
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of baby - 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 "baby", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).