business

/ˈbɪz.nɪs/

//ˈbɪz.nɪs// noun

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

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

The verdict

“business” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #246. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#246
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.

Corpus desk

Index EN-business · business · English

business · rank #246 · 10 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #246
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH women

Nearest frequency peer: women (-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 “business”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “business” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

business vs businesses
80% similar
business vs busiest
75% similar

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

Key facts for business
PropertyValue
Headwordbusiness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈbɪz.nɪs/
Letters8
Frequency rank#246
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “business” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).businesslands 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 “women” (#245), “care” (#247), “top” (#244). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around business (IPA /ˈbɪz.nɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #246 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 20 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for business, with forms such as "bbusiness", "bsuiness", and "buisness". 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, "businesses", "busiest", 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 busines, busynes, businesse, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy + -ness. Doublet of busyness. Sense 17 (something very good, top quality), possibly derives from "the bee's knees" The correct English form is business, spelled B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
  2. 2
    A person's occupation, work, or trade.
  3. 3
    Commercial, industrial, or professional activity.
  4. 4
    The volume or amount of commercial trade.
  5. 5
    One's dealings; patronage.
  6. 6
    Private commercial interests taken collectively.
  7. 7
    The management of commercial enterprises, or the study of such management.
  8. 8
    A particular situation or activity.
  9. 9
    Any activity or objective needing to be dealt with; especially, one of a financial or legal matter.
  10. 10
    Something involving one personally.
  11. 11
    Matters that come before a body for deliberation or action.
  12. 12
    Business class, the class of seating provided by airlines between first class and coach.
  13. 13
    Ellipsis of stage business (“aspect of acting”).
  14. 14
    Hollywood, the entertainment industry.
  15. 15
    Prostitution.
  16. 16
    The collective noun for a group of ferrets.
  17. 17
    Something very good; top quality.
  18. 18
    The act of defecation, or the excrement itself, particularly that of a non-human animal.
  19. 19
    Disruptive shenanigans.
  20. 20
    Matters.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how business appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I left my father's business.
  2. The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.

Etymology

From Middle English busines, busynes, businesse, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy + -ness. Doublet of busyness. Sense 17 (something very good, top quality), possibly derives from "the bee's knees"

This word in other languages

empresa(Español)entreprise(Français)Geschäft(Deutsch)negócio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbusiness
  • bsuiness
  • buisness
  • busienss
  • busines
  • businness
  • businses
  • busniess
  • bussiness
  • ubsiness

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

bbusiness1bsuiness2buisness2busienss2busines1businness1businses2busniess2
Edit distance from "business"

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 "business"?
"business" is spelled B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈbɪz.nɪs/.
What does "business" mean?
As a noun, "business" means: A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
What words are commonly confused with "business"?
"business" is commonly confused with "businesses", "busiest". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "business"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "business" is /ˈbɪz.nɪs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "business"?
From Middle English busines, busynes, businesse, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy + -ness. Doublet of busyness. Sense 17 (something very good, top quality), possibly derives from "the bee's knees" See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "business", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

anything#254national#290actually#302American#303

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

system10 variantslooking10 variantsalready10 variantshowever10 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "business". Here's where to go from here.

  • "business" maps to 2 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "businesses". View pair
  • 10 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #246 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list