basil
/ˈbæz.əl/
"basil" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“basil” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,008. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #12,008
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A plant (Ocimum basilicum).
Corpus desk
Index EN-basil · basil · English
basil · rank #12,008 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,008
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bamboo
Nearest frequency peer: bamboo (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “basil”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- artery
artery
87,995 corpus weight
- bamboo
bamboo
87,994 corpus weight
- basil
basil
87,993 corpus weight
- blackberry
blackberry
87,992 corpus weight
- Bolton
Bolton
87,991 corpus weight
- Bombay
Bombay
87,990 corpus weight
What this shows “basil” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | basil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbæz.əl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,008 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “basil”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around basil (IPA /ˈbæz.əl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,008 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for basil, with forms such as "absil", "baisl", and "basill". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bass", "boil", "bask", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English basile, from Middle French basile, from Old French basile, from Medieval Latin basilicum, from Ancient Greek βασιλικόν (basilikón, “royal”), from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”). Doublet of basilic, basilicon, and basilicum; furthe… The correct English form is basil, spelled B-A-S-I-L.
Definition
- 1A plant (Ocimum basilicum).
- 2The leaves of this plant used as a herb.
- 3Any other species in the genus Ocimum.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English basile, from Middle French basile, from Old French basile, from Medieval Latin basilicum, from Ancient Greek βασιλικόν (basilikón, “royal”), from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”). Doublet of basilic, basilicon, and basilicum; further related to basileus, basilean, and basileiolatry.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- absil
- baisl
- basill
- basli
- bassil
- bbasil
- bsail
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of basil - 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.
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 "basil"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "basil", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).