bah

[ˈba]

/[ˈba]/ intj

The verdict

“bah” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #14,298) as an interjection. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#14,298
frequency rank, Spanish
2,459
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Denota incredulidad o desprecio.

Corpus desk

Index ES-bah · bah · Spanish

bah · rank #14,298 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,298
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,459
  • PHOTO-FINISH bandidos

Nearest frequency peer: bandidos (+1 rank slots)

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.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “bah”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “bah” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

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).

bah vs by
33% similar
bah vs be
33% similar
bah vs bo
33% similar

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

Key facts for bah
PropertyValue
Headwordbah
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechInterjection
IPA[ˈba]
Letters3
Frequency rank#14,298
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “bah”

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.bahcae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “bandidos” (#14,299), “barranco” (#14,300), “autoría” (#14,295). Entre 2,459 lemas con “B”, “bah” va en #14,298. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bah is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "be", …), not just typos; it is aninterjection pronounced [ˈba]. Frequency #14,298 among 2,459 “B” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

bah has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "be", "bo", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct Spanish form is bah, spelled B-A-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Denota incredulidad o desprecio.
  2. 2
    Usada para explicitar y aclarar lo enunciado previamente en el discurso, generalmente cuando implica contradecirse en mayor o menor medida con lo que ya se dijo.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. ¡Bah! — dices enfurruñado, inconsolable — ¡bah, bah! Y hasta en tu rechazo en voz alta de la música … empieza a haber algo como un ritmo secreto
  2. —Mañana juego un partido a la mañana así que esperame hasta la tarde y ahí nos juntamos. Bah, a menos que quieras ir a verme jugar.

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bah"?
"bah" is spelled B-A-H. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈba].
What does "bah" mean?
As an interjection, "bah" means: Denota incredulidad o desprecio.
What words are commonly confused with "bah"?
"bah" is commonly confused with "by", "be", "bo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bah"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bah" is [ˈba]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bah" come from?
"bah" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bah", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list