bot
/bɒt/
"bot" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bot” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #9,289) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #9,289
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The larva of a botfly, which infests the skin of various mammals, producing warbles, or the nasal passage of sheep, or the stomach of horses.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bot · bot · English
bot · rank #9,289 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #9,289
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bibliography
Nearest frequency peer: bibliography (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “bot”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- bats
bats
90,715 corpus weight
- Belgian
Belgian
90,714 corpus weight
- bibliography
bibliography
90,713 corpus weight
- bot
bot
90,712 corpus weight
- broadly
broadly
90,711 corpus weight
- calcium
calcium
90,710 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “bot” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | bot |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɒt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #9,289 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bot” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for bot is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "BS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bɒt/. Frequency #9,289 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Gloss: "The larva of a botfly, which infests the skin of various mammals, producing warbles, or the nasal passage of sheep, or the stomach of horses.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for bot, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BS", "br", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly a modification of Scottish Gaelic boiteag (“maggot”). The correct English form is bot, spelled B-O-T.
Definition
- 1The larva of a botfly, which infests the skin of various mammals, producing warbles, or the nasal passage of sheep, or the stomach of horses.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bot appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
One deer, later found to be heavily parasitized by bots, suffered severe vomiting attacks during the early spring.
Jerry prepared a glass jar with sterilized sand to act as a nursery for his pulsating bot, but despite his tender ministrations the larva dried out and died before it could encase itself in a pupal sheath.
Etymology
Possibly a modification of Scottish Gaelic boiteag (“maggot”).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bot", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "bot". Here's where to go from here.
- "bot" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "by". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #9,289 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.