bahntvsbahrTell them apart

Quick tell: bahnt is a verb, bahr is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bahnt” is a verb and “bahr” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,212
“bahnt” frequency rank
#23,845
“bahr” frequency rank
60057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bahnt bahr
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bahnen Meer, Ozean

Where the eye mixes bahnt and bahr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bahnt
4 ch
bahr

Visual trap between bahnt and bahr

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bahnt is [baːnt] while bahr is [bahr]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bahnt is recorded at frequency rank #36,212, classified as averb, pronounced [baːnt]. bahr is at rank #23,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bahr].

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 60057, this pair ranks #801,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bahnt vs bahr

Shared letters: abh. Private to "bahnt": nt. Private to "bahr": r.

"bahnt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "bahr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bahntabhnt · bahhnt · bahnnt · bahntt · bahtn · banht · bbahnt · bhant
  • bahrabhr · bahhr · bahrr · barh · bbahr · bhar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bahnt" and "bahr" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bahnt" is a verb and "bahr" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "bahnt" or "bahr" show up more?
"bahr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,845 in our German list, against #36,212 for "bahnt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bahnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bahr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #801,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bahnt" and "bahr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bahnt vs bain". 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 #801,231 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list