bestowed

/bɪˈstoʊd/

//bɪˈstoʊd// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"bestowed" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bestowed” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #17,302. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,302
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past and past participle of bestow

Corpus desk

Index EN-bestowed · bestowed · English

bestowed · rank #17,302 · 12 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,302
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH beauties

Nearest frequency peer: beauties (-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 “bestowed”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “bestowed” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bestowed vs bestow
75% similar
bestowed vs bested
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bestowed
PropertyValue
Headwordbestowed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/bɪˈstoʊd/
Letters8
Frequency rank#17,302
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “bestowed”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).bestowedlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “beauties” (#17,301), “Bethesda” (#17,303), “Bartlett” (#17,300). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bestowed” is #17,302. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around bestowed (IPA /bɪˈstoʊd/), averb. Corpus frequency is #17,302 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of bestow".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for bestowed, with forms such as "bbestowed", "besotwed", and "besstowed". 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, "bestow", "bested", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is bestowed, spelled B-E-S-T-O-W-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of bestow

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbestowed
  • besotwed
  • besstowed
  • bestoewd
  • bestowde
  • bestowedd
  • bestowwed
  • besttowed
  • bestwoed
  • betsowed
  • bsetowed
  • ebstowed

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bestowed - 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.

bbestowed1besotwed2besstowed1bestoewd2bestowde2bestowedd1bestowwed1besttowed1
Edit distance from "bestowed"

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 "bestowed"?
"bestowed" is spelled B-E-S-T-O-W-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /bɪˈstoʊd/.
What does "bestowed" mean?
As a verb, "bestowed" means: simple past and past participle of bestow
What words are commonly confused with "bestowed"?
"bestowed" is commonly confused with "bestow", "bested". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bestowed"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bestowed" is /bɪˈstoʊd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bestowed" come from?
"bestowed" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bestowed", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

beauties#17,301Bethesda#17,303Bartlett#17,300barefoot#17,298

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

banished12 variantschloride12 variantsyielding12 variantswarranted12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list