barevsbautWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#31,448
“bare” frequency rank
#3,357
“baut” frequency rank
34805
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bare baut
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bar 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bauen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bare and baut apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
bare
4 ch
baut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

bare and baut form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34805, 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]. baut is at rank #3,357, tagged as averb, pronounced [baʊ̯t].

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 34805, this pair ranks #1,654,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

bare#31,448
baut#3,357

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bare" and "baut" be used interchangeably?
No, "bare" and "baut" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering bare vs baut

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 “baut”.
  • 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