bahrvsbaitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“bahr” and “bait” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,845
“bahr” frequency rank
#45,151
“bait” frequency rank
68996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bahr bait
Definition Meer, Ozean der Köder, das Lockmittel

Where the eye mixes bahr and bait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bahr (CVCC) and bait (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
bahr
4 ch
bait

Why the eye confuses bahr with bait

A purely visual mix-up. bahr ([bahr]) and bait ([beɪt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bahr is recorded at frequency rank #23,845, classified as anoun, pronounced [bahr]. bait is at rank #45,151, tagged as anoun, pronounced [beɪt].

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 68996, this pair ranks #490,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bahr vs bait

Shared letters: ab. Private to "bahr": hr. Private to "bait": it.

"bahr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bahr ← abhr · bahhr · bahrr · barh · bbahr · bhar
  • bait ← abit · baitt · bati · bbait · biat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bahr" for "bait" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bahr] versus [beɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bahr" or "bait" show up more?
"bahr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,845 in our German list, against #45,151 for "bait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "bahr" and "bait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bahr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #490,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bahr" and "bait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bait vs bic". 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 #490,335 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