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PlainSpell

before

be·fore/bɪˈfoɹ/preposition, adverb, conjunction, noun

before is spelled B-E-F-O-R-E, 2 syllables: be·fore. The wrong spelling people search most is befoer: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 313 of all searches for the word. Before is a preposition meaning “Earlier than (in time)”.

How many letters and syllables are in before?

Letters6: B-E-F-O-R-E
Syllables2: be·fore
In writing851 times per million words; the 126th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, befoer, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell before?

Before is spelled B-E-F-O-R-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 159 of the searches for before in either form.

beforethe right spelling3,160 searches a month
befoerr and e swapped10 searches a month
beofref and o swapped10 searches a month

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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is before?

Before appears 851 times per million words in written English, the 126th 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 before?

  • UK /bɪˈfɔː/
  • US /bɪˈfoɹ/
  • US /biˈfoɹ/

Before has 2 syllables, split be·fore in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-before.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with before?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as before from its last stressed vowel (/oɹ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of before

  • befo
  • befo'
  • b4
  • be4
  • befores plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does before mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

preposition

  1. 1

    Earlier than (in time).

    I want this done before Monday.

  2. 2

    In front of in space.

    He stood before me.

  3. 3

    In the presence of.

    He performed before the troops in North Africa.

  4. 4

    Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).

    The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.

  5. 5

    In store for, in the future of (someone).

    Your whole life is before you.

  6. 6

    In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.

    In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".

  7. 7

    At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking.

    An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, and amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.

adverb

  1. 1

    At an earlier time.

    I've never done this before.

  2. 2

    In advance in position or sequence; ahead.

    We walked behind while they went before.

  3. 3

    At the front end.

conjunction

  1. 1

    In advance of the time when.

    Near-synonym: no later than

  2. 2

    informalRather or sooner than.

    I'll die before I('ll) tell you anything about it.

noun

  1. 1

    Of before-and-after images: the one that shows the difference before a specified treatment.

  2. 2

    That which occurred or existed previously.

  3. 3

    rareA previous form or instance.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate before?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of before: bef..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Before in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchavant, avant que (earlier than), devant (in front of in space)
Germanvor (earlier than), zuvor, vorher (at an earlier time), eher, im Voraus (in advance), vorn (at the front end)
Portugueseantes de (earlier than), ante, em frente a, na frente de, diante de (in front of in space), perante (in the presence of)
Spanishantes de (earlier than), ante (in front of in space), antes, denante, enantes, enante (at an earlier time)

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 before come from?

Inherited from Middle English before /bifore, from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic *furai, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“front”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian befoar (“before”), German Low German bevör (“before”), German bevor (“before”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after before