bank
/ˈbæŋk/
"bank" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bank” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #705 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #705
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.
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 | bank |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbæŋk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #705 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bank” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bank is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbæŋk/. Corpus data places it at rank #705 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for bank, with forms such as "abnk", "bakn", and "bankk". 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, "bn", "bar", "bay", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian bancabor. Middle French banqueder. English bank Inherited from Middle English banke, from Middle French banque, from Italian banca (“c… The correct English form is bank, spelled B-A-N-K.
Definition
- 1An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.
- 2A branch office of such an institution.
- 3An underwriter or controller of a card game.
- 4A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital.
- 5The sum of money etc. which the dealer or banker has as a fund from which to draw stakes and pay losses.
- 6Money; profit.
- 7In certain games, such as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.
- 8A safe and guaranteed place of storage for and retrieval of important items or goods.
- 9A device used to store coins or currency.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian bancabor. Middle French banqueder. English bank Inherited from Middle English banke, from Middle French banque, from Italian banca (“counter, moneychanger's bench or table”), from Lombardic bank (“bench, counter”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench, counter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to turn, curve, bend, bow”). Doublet of bench, banc, and banco. For the bench-bank relation, compare typologically Russian ла́вка (lávka), прила́вок (prilávok).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abnk,bakn,bankk,bannk,bbank,bnak
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bank - 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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Using “bank”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-N-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbæŋk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bn” - see the side-by-side comparison. bank vs bn
- 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.