Bastille
/bæˈstiːl/
"bastille" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Bastille” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,375 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #27,375
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A former fortress and prison in Paris, France, the storming of which in 1789 began the French Revolution.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Bastille |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /bæˈstiːl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #27,375 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Bastille” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Bastille is 8 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bæˈstiːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,375 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A former fortress and prison in Paris, France, the storming of which in 1789 began the French Revolution.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Bastille, with forms such as "abstille", "basitlle", and "basstille". 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. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French Bastille, from bastille (“fortress”): see further at the English entry bastille. The building was known in full as the Bastille Saint-Antoine, and was a former fortress used as a prison by the French monarchy in the 17th and 18th centur… The correct English form is Bastille, spelled B-A-S-T-I-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1A former fortress and prison in Paris, France, the storming of which in 1789 began the French Revolution.
Etymology
Borrowed from French Bastille, from bastille (“fortress”): see further at the English entry bastille. The building was known in full as the Bastille Saint-Antoine, and was a former fortress used as a prison by the French monarchy in the 17th and 18th centuries.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abstille,basitlle,basstille,bastile,bastilel,bastlile,basttille,batsille,bbastille,bsatille
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Bastille - 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
How do you spell "Bastille"?
What does "Bastille" mean?
What are common misspellings of "Bastille"?
How do you pronounce "Bastille"?
What is the origin of the word "Bastille"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Bastille”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-S-T-I-L-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bæˈstiːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.