B

\be\

/\be\/ character

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

The verdict

“B” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #666) as a character. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#666
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Deuxième lettre et première consonne de l’alphabet latin (en majuscule).

Corpus desk

Index FR-b · B · French

B · rank #666 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #666
  • LEN-SHORT 1 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH ami

Nearest frequency peer: ami (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “B”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “B” sits against the nearest ranked French 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).

B vs by
0% similar
B vs be
0% similar
B vs BD
50% similar

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

Key facts for B
PropertyValue
HeadwordB
LanguageFrench
Part of speechCharacter
IPA\be\
Letters1
Frequency rank#666
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “B” se place dans la fréquence du français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.Bse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « ami » (#665), « campagne » (#667), « aider » (#664). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for B is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "be", …), not just typos; it is acharacter pronounced \be\. Frequency #666 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Gloss: "Deuxième lettre et première consonne de l’alphabet latin (en majuscule).".

Zero misspellings are on record for B in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "be", "BD", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is B, spelled B.

Definition

  1. 1
    Deuxième lettre et première consonne de l’alphabet latin (en majuscule).

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "B"?
"B" is spelled B. The IPA pronunciation is \be\.
What does "B" mean?
As a character, "B" means: Deuxième lettre et première consonne de l’alphabet latin (en majuscule).
What words are commonly confused with "B"?
"B" is commonly confused with "by", "be", "BD". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "B"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "B" is \be\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "B" come from?
"B" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

What to do next

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

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