behave
/bɪˈheɪv/
"behave" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“behave” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,097. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,097
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
Corpus desk
Index EN-behave · behave · English
behave · rank #7,097 · 8 variants · 8 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,097
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH banana
Nearest frequency peer: banana (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “behave”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Arnold
Arnold
92,907 corpus weight
- arrange
arrange
92,906 corpus weight
- banana
banana
92,905 corpus weight
- behave
behave
92,904 corpus weight
- betting
betting
92,903 corpus weight
- Blair
Blair
92,902 corpus weight
What this shows “behave” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | behave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈheɪv/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #7,097 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “behave”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around behave (IPA /bɪˈheɪv/), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,097 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for behave, with forms such as "bbehave", "beahve", and "behaev". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "brave", "beware", "belive", 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-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *kap-der. Proto-Germanic *habjaną P… The correct English form is behave, spelled B-E-H-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
- 2To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner.
- 3To conduct, manage, regulate (something).
- 4To act in a polite or proper way.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how behave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You need to behave yourself, young lady.
And the manifest signs that came from heaven unto those that behaved themselves manfully to their honour for Judaism[…]
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *kap-der. Proto-Germanic *habjaną Proto-West Germanic *habbjan Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan Old English behabban Middle English behaven English behave From Middle English behaven, bihabben (“to restrain, behave”), from Old English behabban (“to surround, embrace, hold, contain, hold back, withhold, restrain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan, equivalent to be- + have. Cognate with Middle Low German behebben, behāven (“to receive, acquire, reach, keep”), Low German behebben (“to act, behave”), German behaben (“to behave”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bbehave
- beahve
- behaev
- behavve
- behhave
- behvae
- bheave
- ebhave
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of behave - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "behave", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).