behold
/bɪˈhəʊld/
"behold" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“behold” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #10,165. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #10,165
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.
Corpus desk
Index EN-behold · behold · English
behold · rank #10,165 · 9 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-MID #10,165
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH beams
Nearest frequency peer: beams (-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 “behold”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- amusing
amusing
89,839 corpus weight
- Arabs
Arabs
89,838 corpus weight
- beams
beams
89,837 corpus weight
- behold
behold
89,836 corpus weight
- betrayed
betrayed
89,835 corpus weight
- biased
biased
89,834 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “behold” 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 | behold |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈhəʊld/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #10,165 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “behold” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around behold (IPA /bɪˈhəʊld/), averb. Corpus frequency is #10,165 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for behold, with forms such as "bbehold", "behhold", and "behlod". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "bold", "beyond", "beholden", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English biholden, from Old English behealdan (“to hold, possess, preserve, belong, keep, observe, look at, take care, beware, be cautious, restrain, act, behave”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaldan (“to hold with, keep”), equivalent to be- + ho… The correct English form is behold, spelled B-E-H-O-L-D.
Definition
- 1To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.
- 2To contemplate (someone or something).
- 3To look.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how behold appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There's not the ſmalleſt orbe [in the sky] vvhich thou beholdſt, / But in his motion like an Angell ſings, / Still quiring to the young eide Cherubins; / Such harmony is in immortall ſoules, / But vvhilſt this muddy veſture of decay [i.e., the human body] / Doth groſſely cloſe in it, vve cannot heare it.
[…] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst…
Etymology
From Middle English biholden, from Old English behealdan (“to hold, possess, preserve, belong, keep, observe, look at, take care, beware, be cautious, restrain, act, behave”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaldan (“to hold with, keep”), equivalent to be- + hold. Cognate with Saterland Frisian behoolde (“to keep”), Dutch behouden (“to keep, restrain, preserve”), German behalten (“to keep, restrain, remember”), Danish and Norwegian beholde (“to keep”) and Swedish behålla (“to keep”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bbehold
- behhold
- behlod
- behodl
- beholdd
- beholld
- beohld
- bheold
- ebhold
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of behold - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "behold", 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 (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "behold". Here's where to go from here.
- "behold" maps to 7 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "bold". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #10,165 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.