bat
/bæt/
"bat" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bat” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,286) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #4,286
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bat · bat · English
bat · rank #4,286 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,286
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH agenda
Nearest frequency peer: agenda (-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 “bat”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- affair
affair
95,717 corpus weight
- agenda
agenda
95,716 corpus weight
- bat
bat
95,715 corpus weight
- bow
bow
95,714 corpus weight
- calendar
calendar
95,713 corpus weight
- cape
cape
95,712 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “bat” 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 | bat |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bæt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #4,286 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bat” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for bat is neighbouring look-alikes ("be", "by", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bæt/. Frequency #4,286 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for bat, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "be", "by", "BC", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Dialectal variant (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta) of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin. Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”). Compare Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish… The correct English form is bat, spelled B-A-T.
Definition
- 1Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
- 2An old woman.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bat appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
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 world’s largest urban bat colony (in Austin). Bat watching is a common activity, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Depart…
Etymology
Dialectal variant (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta) of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin. Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”). Compare Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ.
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bat", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "bat". Here's where to go from here.
- "bat" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "be". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #4,286 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.