believe
/bɪˈliːv/
"believe" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“believe” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #286 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #286
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
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 | believe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈliːv/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #286 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “believe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for believe is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɪˈliːv/. Corpus data places it at rank #286 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for believe, with forms such as "bbelieve", "beileve", and "beleive". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "Belize", "belive", "believed", 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 *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 *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō P… The correct English form is believe, spelled B-E-L-I-E-V-E.
Definition
- 1To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
- 2To accept that someone is telling the truth.
- 3To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
- 4To opine, think, reckon.
- 5[with in]
- 6[with in]
- 7[with in]
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 *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *laubijaną Proto-West Germanic *laubijan Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan Old English belīefan Middle English bileven English believe From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”). The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbelieve,beileve,beleive,belieev,believve,belivee,bellieve,bleieve,eblieve
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of believe - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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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Using “believe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-L-I-E-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɪˈliːv/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Belize” - see the side-by-side comparison. believe vs Belize
- 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.