been
/bɪn/
"been" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“been” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #62) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #62
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 2
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - past participle of be.
Corpus desk
Index EN-been · been · English
been · rank #62 · 2 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #62
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 2 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH get
Nearest frequency peer: get (-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 “been”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- which
which
99,942 corpus weight
- time
time
99,941 corpus weight
- get
get
99,940 corpus weight
- been
been
99,939 corpus weight
- would
would
99,938 corpus weight
- she
she
99,937 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “been” 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 | been |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #62 |
| Misspellings tracked | 2 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “been” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for been is neighbouring look-alikes ("bn", "bet", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /bɪn/. Frequency #62 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 2 likely wrong-spelling variants for been, including "bbeen" and "beenn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bn", "bet", "ben", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Germanic *ga- Proto-West Germanic *ga- Old English ġe- Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuHyétider.? Proto-Germanic *beuną Proto-West Germanic *… The correct English form is been, spelled B-E-E-N.
Definition
- 1past participle of be.
- 2remote past form of be.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how been appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
All the fries have been eaten.
Postman been?
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Germanic *ga- Proto-West Germanic *ga- Old English ġe- Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuHyétider.? Proto-Germanic *beuną Proto-West Germanic *beun Old English bēon Old English ġebēon Middle English been English been From Middle English been (past participle), from Old English (ġe)bēon. By surface analysis, be + -en.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bbeen
- beenn
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of been - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "been", not the corpus desk frequency band.
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.