be

\biː\

/\biː\/ verb

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

The verdict

“be” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,044) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,044
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Être.

Corpus desk

Index FR-be · be · French

be · rank #4,044 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,044
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH banlieue

Nearest frequency peer: banlieue (-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 “be”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “be” 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).

be vs by
50% similar
be vs bu
50% similar
be vs bi
50% similar

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

Key facts for be
PropertyValue
Headwordbe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\biː\
Letters2
Frequency rank#4,044
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “be” se place dans la fréquence du français

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

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « banlieue » (#4,043), « blessures » (#4,045), « bleue » (#4,046). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for be is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "bu", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced \biː\. Frequency #4,044 among 4,251 “B” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Zero misspellings are on record for be in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "bu", "bi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is be, spelled B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Être.
  2. 2
    Être. Auxiliaire pour former le passif avec un participe passé.
  3. 3
    Être en train de. Auxiliaire pour former le progressif avec un participe présent.
  4. 4
    Aller. Auxiliaire pour former le futur proche avec un infinitif.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them.
  2. It is well known.

Synonyms

existbe going to

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 "be"?
"be" is spelled B-E. The IPA pronunciation is \biː\.
What does "be" mean?
As a verb, "be" means: Être.
What words are commonly confused with "be"?
"be" is commonly confused with "by", "bu", "bi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "be"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "be" is \biː\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "be" come from?
"be" 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 "be". Here's where to go from here.

  • "be" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "by". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #4,044 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse

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