bed
/ˈbɛd/
"bed" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bed” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #893 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #893
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
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 | bed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɛd/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #893 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bed” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bed is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɛd/. Corpus data places it at rank #893 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 27 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
bed has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "bi", "BS", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *badją Proto-West Germanic *badi Old English bedd Middle English bed English bed Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot … The correct English form is bed, spelled B-E-D.
Definition
- 1A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 2A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 3A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 4A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 5A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 6A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 7A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 8A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 9A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
- 10A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 11A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 12A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 13A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 14A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 15A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 16A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 17A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 18A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 19A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 20A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 21A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 22A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
- 23A horizontal layer or surface.
- 24A horizontal layer or surface.
- 25A horizontal layer or surface.
- 26A horizontal layer or surface.
- 27A horizontal layer or surface.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *badją Proto-West Germanic *badi Old English bedd Middle English bed English bed Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”). Cognates Cognate with Scots bed, North Frisian baad, beed, Bēr, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Cimbrian pett, Dutch bed, Dutch Low Saxon bedde, German Bett, Bette, German Low German Bedd, Luxembourgish Bett, Vilamovian bet, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bed, Faroese and Icelandic beð, beður, Norwegian Nynorsk bed, bedd, Swedish bädd, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌹 (badi), all meaning “bed”. further possible etymology and cognates The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, gore”).
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
How do you spell "bed"?
What does "bed" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "bed"?
How do you pronounce "bed"?
What is the origin of the word "bed"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “bed”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɛd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “by” - see the side-by-side comparison. bed vs by
- 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.