bank
/ˈbæŋk/
"bank" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bank” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #705. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #705
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
- 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.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bank · bank · English
bank · rank #705 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #705
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 31,241
- PHOTO-FINISH average
Nearest frequency peer: average (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “bank”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- AL
AL
99,299 corpus weight
- alone
alone
99,298 corpus weight
- average
average
99,297 corpus weight
- bank
bank
99,296 corpus weight
- brought
brought
99,295 corpus weight
- certain
certain
99,294 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “bank” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around bank (IPA /ˈbæŋk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #705 among 31,241 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bank appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms.[…]Banks and credit-card firms are kept out of the picture. Talk to enough people in the field and someone is bound to mention the “democratisation of finance”.
Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What does "bank" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bank", 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 (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.