beside
/bɪˈsaɪd/preposition, adverb
beside is spelled B-E-S-I-D-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “beside vs besides” about 1,300 times a month (Google, United States). As a preposition, beside means “Next to; at the side of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in beside?
| Letters | 6: B-E-S-I-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 common is beside?
Beside appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th 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 beside?
- UK /bɪˈsaɪd/
- US /bɪˈsaɪd/
- US /biˈsaɪd/
Beside has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-beside.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with beside
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with beside?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as beside from its last stressed vowel (/aɪd/):
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).
What does beside mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
preposition
- 1
Next to; at the side of.
A small table beside the bed
- 2
Not relevant to.
That is beside the point / beside the topic / beside the subject / beside the focus of this discussion.
- 3
Besides; in addition to.
I'll need another dictionary beside this one.
adverb
- 1
Otherwise; else; in addition; besides.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Beside in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense not relevant to:
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 beside come from?
From Middle English beside, besiden, bisyde (also besides > besides), from Old English be sīdan, bī sīdan (“by the side (of), on the side (of)”). Compare Saterland Frisian biesiede (“aside”), German Low German bisied (“aside”), German beiseite (“aside, to one side”). Compare also Dutch terzijde (“aside”). By surface analysis, be- + side.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).