barevsbargWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bare is a adjective, barg is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bare” is an adjective and “barg” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,448
“bare” frequency rank
#46,504
“barg” frequency rank
77952
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bare barg
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bar 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs bergen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bare and barg apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
bare
4 ch
barg

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bare is [ˈbaːʁə] while barg is [baʁk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “bare” becomes g in “barg”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bare is recorded at frequency rank #31,448, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbaːʁə]. barg is at rank #46,504, tagged as averb, pronounced [baʁk].

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 77952, this pair ranks #249,143 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bare vs barg

Shared letters: abr. Private to "bare": e. Private to "barg": g.

"bare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "barg" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barebarre · bbare · brae
  • bargabrg · bagr · bargg · barrg · bbarg · brag

Frequency comparison

bare#31,448
barg#46,504

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bare" and "barg" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bare" is an adjective and "barg" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bare" or "barg"?
"bare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,448 in our German list, against #46,504 for "barg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bare vs barg

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “bare”; for a verb, it's “barg”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bare” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list