Which to use
“been” is a verb and “bin” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,074
- “been” frequency rank
- #10,119
- “bin” frequency rank
- 26193
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | been | bin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé de be. | Variante de bien. |
Where the eye mixes been and bin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses been with bin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: been is \bɪn\ while bin is \bɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
been is recorded at frequency rank #16,074, classified as averb, pronounced \bɪn\. bin is at rank #10,119, tagged as anadv, pronounced \bɛ̃\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 26193, this pair ranks #336,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of been vs bin
Shared letters: bn. Private to "been": e. Private to "bin": i.
"been" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- been ← bbeen · beenn · eben
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "been" and "bin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "been" or "bin"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "been" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "been" and "bin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "been vs beton". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #336,574 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.