bail

/beɪl/

//beɪl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"bail" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bail” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #6,988) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#6,988
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bail · bail · English

bail · rank #6,988 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,988
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH belonged

Nearest frequency peer: belonged (+2 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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “bail”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “bail” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bail vs bi
50% similar
bail vs BL
0% similar
bail vs big
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bail
PropertyValue
Headwordbail
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/beɪl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#6,988
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “bail”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).baillands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “belonged” (#6,990), “Bradley” (#6,991), “aluminum” (#6,984). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bail” is #6,988. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bail is neighbouring look-alikes ("bi", "BL", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /beɪl/. Frequency #6,988 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bail, with forms such as "abil", "baill", and "bbail". 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, "bi", "BL", "big", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff). The correct English form is bail, spelled B-A-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
  2. 2
    Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
  3. 3
    The person providing such payment.
  4. 4
    A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
  5. 5
    A person who bails water out of a boat.
  6. 6
    Custody; keeping.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bail appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. He was granted bail for £20000.
  2. I ſuppoſe vve ſhall hardly Rehearſe the Comedy this Morning; for the Author vvas Arreſted as he vvas going home from King's Coffee-houſe; and, as I heard, it vvas for upvvards of Four Pound: I ſuppoſe he vvill hardly get Bail.

Etymology

From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff).

This word in other languages

fianza(Español)caution(Français)Kaution(Deutsch)fiança(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abil
  • baill
  • bbail
  • bial

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bail - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

abil2baill1bbail1bial2
Edit distance from "bail"

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

How do you spell "bail"?
"bail" is spelled B-A-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is /beɪl/.
What does "bail" mean?
As a noun, "bail" means: Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
What words are commonly confused with "bail"?
"bail" is commonly confused with "bi", "BL", "big". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bail"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bail" is /beɪl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bail"?
From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bail", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

buck#6,994warn#6,976tire#6,970disk#7,008

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list