beholden
/bɪˈhəʊldən/
"beholden" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“beholden” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #36,451 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #36,451
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted, obliged for a bounden duty.
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 | beholden |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /bɪˈhəʊldən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #36,451 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “beholden” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for beholden is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɪˈhəʊldən/. Corpus data places it at rank #36,451 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted, obliged for a bounden duty.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for beholden, with forms such as "bbeholden", "behholden", and "behloden". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "beholder", "behold", 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 (“beholden, obligated”), past participle of biholden (“to behold, look at”, modern behold), though that verb does not mean "to bind, obligate". The correct English form is beholden, spelled B-E-H-O-L-D-E-N.
Definition
- 1Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted, obliged for a bounden duty.
Etymology
From Middle English biholden (“beholden, obligated”), past participle of biholden (“to behold, look at”, modern behold), though that verb does not mean "to bind, obligate".
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbeholden,behholden,behloden,behodlen,beholdden,beholdenn,beholdne,beholedn,behollden,beohlden,bheolden,ebholden
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of beholden - 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
How do you spell "beholden"?
What does "beholden" mean?
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Using “beholden”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-H-O-L-D-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɪˈhəʊldən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “beholder” - see the side-by-side comparison. beholden vs beholder
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.