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PlainSpell

bat

/bæt/noun, verb

bat is spelled B-A-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bat means “Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bat is bats.

How many letters and syllables are in bat?

Letters3: B-A-T
Syllables1
In writing20 times per million words; the 4,302nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bat?

Bat appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,302nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce bat?

  • US /bæt/
  • British /bat/
  • /bɛt/

Bat has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bat.ogg, En-au-bat.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bat

Also written: baht.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with bat?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bat from its last stressed vowel (/æt/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tab, tba.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bat

  • bats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • batting participle, present
  • batted participle, past
  • bat-

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bat mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.

    As well as being worth millions of dollars to the Texan agriculture industry, these mammals are worth millions of dollars to the state’s tourism industry. Texas is home to the world’s largest known bat colony (in Comal County), and the worl

  2. 2

    derogatoryAn old woman.

  3. 3

    A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon

  4. 4

    A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.

  5. 5

    A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.

    You've been in for ages. Can I have a bat now?

  6. 6

    A player rated according to skill in batting.

    He's a good fielder and a valuable bat.

  7. 7

    The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.

  8. 8

    Shale or bituminous shale.

  9. 9

    A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.

  10. 10

    A part of a brick with one whole end.

  11. 11

    obsoleteA packsaddle.

  12. 12

    datedDated form of baht (“Thai currency”).

  13. 13

    Clipping of batty (“buttocks or anus”).

  14. 14

    UKobsoleteA child's shoe without a welt.

  15. 15

    UKobsoleteslangA boot that is badly made or in poor condition.

  16. 16

    slangClipping of battery.

verb

  1. 1

    To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat.

    He batted the ball away with a satisfying thwack.

  2. 2

    To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.

  3. 3

    To strike or swipe as though with a bat.

    The cat batted at the toy.

  4. 4

    UKobsoleteTo bate or flutter, as a hawk.

  5. 5

    To flutter

    to bat one’s eyelashes

  6. 6

    UKUSTo wink.

  7. 7

    To flit quickly from place to place.

    I’ve spent all week batting around the country.

noun

as BAT
  1. 1

    Initialism of best available technology: a principle applying to regulations on limiting pollutant discharges.

  2. 2

    Initialism of brown adipose tissue.

  3. 3

    One or more of the Chinese technology companies Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchauve-souris, chauvesouris (small flying mammal), batte, bâton (club used for striking the ball in sports)
GermanFledermaus (small flying mammal), Schläger, Keule (club used for striking the ball in sports), schlagen (transitive: hit)
Portuguesemorcego (small flying mammal), bastão, taco (club used for striking the ball in sports), tacar (transitive: hit)
Spanishmurciélago, ratón volador, murciégalo, morciguillo, murceguillo, panarra (small flying mammal)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bat come from?

Dialectal variant of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta). Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”). Compare also Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bat