bide
/baɪd/
"bide" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bide” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #43,526 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #43,526
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To bear; to endure; to tolerate.
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 | bide |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /baɪd/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #43,526 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bide” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bide is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /baɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #43,526 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for bide, with forms such as "bbide", "bdie", and "bidde". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "big", "bit", "bye", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English biden, from Old English bīdan (“to stay, continue, live, remain, delay; wait for, await, expect; endure, experience, find; attain, obtain; own”), from Proto-West Germanic *bīdan (“to wait”), from Proto-Germanic *bīdaną (“to wait”), from … The correct English form is bide, spelled B-I-D-E.
Definition
- 1To bear; to endure; to tolerate.
- 2To face with resistance; to encounter; to withstand.
- 3To dwell or reside in a location; to abide.
- 4To wait; to be in expectation; to stay; to remain.
- 5To wait for; to await.
Etymology
From Middle English biden, from Old English bīdan (“to stay, continue, live, remain, delay; wait for, await, expect; endure, experience, find; attain, obtain; own”), from Proto-West Germanic *bīdan (“to wait”), from Proto-Germanic *bīdaną (“to wait”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydʰeti, from *bʰeydʰ- (“to command, persuade, compel, trust”). Latinate cognates (via PIE) include faith and fidelity. Cognates Cognate with Scots bide (“to dwell, to live; to stay”), Alemannic German beite (“to wait”), Cimbrian paiten (“to wait”), Dutch beiden (“to wait”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål bie (“to stay, to wait”), Faroese, Icelandic bíða (“to wait”), Norwegian Nynorsk bide, bie (“to wait”), Swedish bida (“to await, to bide”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (beidan, “to wait”).
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbide,bdie,bidde,bied,ibde
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bide - 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
How do you spell "bide"?
What does "bide" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "bide"?
How do you pronounce "bide"?
What is the origin of the word "bide"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “bide”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-I-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /baɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “big” - see the side-by-side comparison. bide vs big
- 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.