bahrvsBärConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,845
“bahr” frequency rank
#7,023
“Bär” frequency rank
30868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bahr Bär
Definition Meer, Ozean Tier (Raubtier, Säugetier) aus der Familie Ursidae

Where the eye mixes bahr and Bär

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bahr runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Bär's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
bahr
3 ch
Bär

Visual trap between bahr and Bär

A purely visual mix-up. bahr ([bahr]) and Bär ([bɛːɐ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30868, 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]. Bär is at rank #7,023, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɛːɐ̯].

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 30868, this pair ranks #1,739,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bahr vs Bär

Shared letters: br. Private to "bahr": ah. Private to "Bär": ä.

"bahr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Bär" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bahr ← abhr · bahhr · bahrr · barh · bbahr · bhar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bahr" for "Bär" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bahr] versus [bɛːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bahr" vs "Bär" - which ranks higher?
"Bär" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,023 in our German list, against #23,845 for "bahr". 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 "Bär" 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 "Bär" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,739,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bahr" and "Bär" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bahr vs bal". 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 #1,739,518 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