betray
/bɪˈtɹeɪ/
"betray" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“betray” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,645 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #16,645
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
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 | betray |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈtɹeɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,645 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “betray” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for betray is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɪˈtɹeɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,645 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. 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 betray, with forms such as "bbetray", "bertay", and "betary". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "bray", "betty", "Betsy", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”). further etymology information Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *… The correct English form is betray, spelled B-E-T-R-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
- 2To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
- 3To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
- 4To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
- 5To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
- 6To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
- 7To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.
Etymology
From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”). further etymology information Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). Compare also traitor, treason, tradition. The modern sense “to disclose, discover, reveal unintentionally” is due to influence from or merger with English bewray (“to reveal, divulge”), which is similar in sound and meaning. The similarity with German betrügen, Dutch bedriegen, from Proto-West Germanic *bidreugan (“to betray, deceive”), is coincidental.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbetray,bertay,betary,betrayy,betrray,betrya,bettray,bteray,ebtray
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of betray - 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 “betray”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-T-R-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɪˈtɹeɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bray” - see the side-by-side comparison. betray vs bray
- 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.