bailey
/ˈbeɪli/
"bailey" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bailey” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,439 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,439
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The outer wall of a feudal castle.
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 | bailey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,439 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bailey” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bailey is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbeɪli/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,439 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for bailey, with forms such as "abiley", "baiely", and "baileyy". 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, "bale", "bile", "billy", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French baile (“palisade, enclosure”), from Latin bacula, plural of baculum (“stick, rod”). The correct English form is bailey, spelled B-A-I-L-E-Y.
Definition
- 1The outer wall of a feudal castle.
- 2The space immediately within the outer wall of a castle or fortress.
- 3A prison or court of justice.
- 4An argument which is controversial and more difficult to defend (in the context of a motte and bailey fallacy).
Etymology
From Old French baile (“palisade, enclosure”), from Latin bacula, plural of baculum (“stick, rod”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abiley,baiely,baileyy,bailley,bailye,baliey,bbailey,bialey
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bailey - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “bailey”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-I-L-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbeɪli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bale” - see the side-by-side comparison. bailey vs bale
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.