bate
/beɪt/
"bate" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bate” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,748 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #38,748
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To reduce the force of something; to abate.
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 | bate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /beɪt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #38,748 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bate is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /beɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #38,748 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bate, with forms such as "abte", "batte", and "bbate". 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, "be", "Bt", "but", 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 baten (“to abate”), an apheretic form of abaten, from Old French abatre (“to knock down”). The correct English form is bate, spelled B-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To reduce the force of something; to abate.
- 2To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation
- 3To cut off, remove, take away.
- 4To leave out, except, bar.
- 5To waste away.
- 6To deprive of.
- 7To lessen by retrenching, deducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower.
- 8To allow by way of abatement or deduction.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English baten (“to abate”), an apheretic form of abaten, from Old French abatre (“to knock down”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abte,batte,bbate,btae
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bate - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “bate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /beɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “be” - see the side-by-side comparison. bate vs be
- 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.