basis
/ˈbeɪ.sɪs/
"basis" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“basis” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,626 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,626
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A physical base or foundation.
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 | basis |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪ.sɪs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,626 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “basis” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for basis is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbeɪ.sɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,626 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for basis, with forms such as "absis", "baiss", and "basiss". 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, "bis", "boss", "bass", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémtis, derived from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (whence also come). Doublet of base. The correct English form is basis, spelled B-A-S-I-S.
Definition
- 1A physical base or foundation.
- 2A starting point, base or foundation for an argument or hypothesis.
- 3An underlying condition or circumstance.
- 4A regular frequency.
- 5The difference between the cash price a dealer pays to a farmer for his produce and an agreed reference price, which is usually the futures price at which the given crop is trading at a commodity exchange.
- 6In a vector space, a linearly independent set of vectors spanning the whole vector space.
- 7Amount paid for an investment, including commissions and other expenses.
- 8A collection of subsets ("basis elements") of a set, such that this collection covers the set, and for any two basis elements which both contain an element of the set, there is a third basis element contained in the intersection of the first two, which also contains that element.
Etymology
From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémtis, derived from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (whence also come). Doublet of base.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: absis,baiss,basiss,bassi,bassis,bbasis,bsais
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of basis - 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 “basis”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-S-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbeɪ.sɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bis” - see the side-by-side comparison. basis vs bis
- 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.