bake

/beɪk/

//beɪk// verb

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

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

The verdict

“bake” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,121 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#8,121
frequency rank, English
4
letters
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

bake vs be
50% similar
bake vs bar
50% similar
bake vs bay
50% similar

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

Key facts for bake
PropertyValue
Headwordbake
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/beɪk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#8,121
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “bake” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). bake lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for bake is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /beɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,121 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bake, with forms such as "abke", "bakke", and "bbake". 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, "be", "bar", "bay", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English baken, from Old English bacan (“to bake”), from Proto-West Germanic *bakan, from Proto-Germanic *bakaną (“to bake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₃g- (“to roast, bake”). Cognate with West Frisian bakke (“to bake”), Dutch bakken (“to bak… The correct English form is bake, spelled B-A-K-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).
  2. 2
    To be cooked in an oven.
  3. 3
    To be warmed to drying and hardening.
  4. 4
    To dry by heat.
  5. 5
    To be hot.
  6. 6
    To cause to be hot.
  7. 7
    To smoke marijuana.
  8. 8
    To harden by cold.
  9. 9
    To fix (lighting, reflections, etc.) as part of the texture of an object to improve rendering performance.
  10. 10
    To incorporate into something greater.

Etymology

From Middle English baken, from Old English bacan (“to bake”), from Proto-West Germanic *bakan, from Proto-Germanic *bakaną (“to bake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₃g- (“to roast, bake”). Cognate with West Frisian bakke (“to bake”), Dutch bakken (“to bake”), Low German backen (“to bake”), German backen (“to bake”), Norwegian Bokmål bake (“to bake”), Danish bage (“to bake”), Swedish baka (“to bake”), Ancient Greek φώγω (phṓgō, “roast”, verb).

This word in other languages

hornear(Español)cuire(Français)backen(Deutsch)assar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: abke,bakke,bbake,bkae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bake - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

abke2bakke1bbake1bkae2
Edit distance from "bake"

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 "bake"?
"bake" is spelled B-A-K-E. The IPA pronunciation is /beɪk/.
What does "bake" mean?
As a verb, "bake" means: To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).
What words are commonly confused with "bake"?
"bake" is commonly confused with "be", "bar", "bay". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bake"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bake" is /beɪk/. 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 "bake"?
From Middle English baken, from Old English bacan (“to bake”), from Proto-West Germanic *bakan, from Proto-Germanic *bakaną (“to bake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₃g- (“to roast, bake”). Cognate with West Frisian bakke (“to bake”), Dutch bakke... 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.

Using “bake”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is B-A-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /beɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “be” - see the side-by-side comparison. bake vs be
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list