bee
/ˈbiː/noun
bee is spelled B-E-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bee means “A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bee is bees; Wiktionary also lists been (dialectal).
How many letters and syllables are in bee?
| Letters | 3: B-E-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,138th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is bee?
Bee appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th 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 bee?
- /ˈbiː/
Bee has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bee.ogg, En-uk-a_bee.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bee
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: b, be (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of bee
- bees plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bee mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.
- 2
informalproscribedAny stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
- 3
A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
geography bee
- 4
A community gathering to share labour, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
- 5
The name of the Latin script letter B/b.
- 6
Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
- 7
obsoleteA ring or torque; a bracelet.
noun
- 1
someone connected with Barnet Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- 2
Alternative letter-case form of bee.
noun
- 1
Initialism of Black Economic Empowerment.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bee in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | abeille, mouche à miel , bé |
| German | Biene, Imme, Beivogl (Styrian), Biine, Bii, Imp |
| Portuguese | abelha , bê |
| Spanish | abeja , be, be alta, be grande, be larga, be labial |
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 bee come from?
From Middle English be, bee, beo, bey, from Old English bēo, bīo (“bee”), from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijǭ (“bee”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey- (“bee”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).