bests
/bɛsts/
"bests" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bests” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #47,490 in English word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #47,490
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A polite, formulaic end to a letter or email.
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 | bests |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /bɛsts/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #47,490 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bests” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bests is 5 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɛsts/. Corpus data places it at rank #47,490 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A polite, formulaic end to a letter or email.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for bests, with forms such as "bbests", "bessts", and "bestss". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bet", "BTS", "boss", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: * (end to a letter) Perhaps short for "best regards and best wishes". The correct English form is bests, spelled B-E-S-T-S.
Definition
- 1A polite, formulaic end to a letter or email.
Etymology
* (end to a letter) Perhaps short for "best regards and best wishes".
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbests,bessts,bestss,bestts,bsets,ebsts
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bests - 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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Using “bests”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-S-T-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɛsts/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bet” - see the side-by-side comparison. bests vs bet
- 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.