barevsbergeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#31,448
“bare” frequency rank
#3,562
“berge” frequency rank
35010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes bare and berge

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

4 ch
bare
5 ch
berge

Visual trap between bare and berge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bare is [ˈbaːʁə] while berge is [ˈbɛʁɡə]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35010, 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]. berge is at rank #3,562, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɛʁɡə].

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 35010, this pair ranks #1,650,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bare vs berge

Shared letters: ber. Private to "bare": a. Private to "berge": g.

"bare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "berge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barebarre · bbare · brae
  • bergebberge · begre · bereg · bergge · berrge · brege · ebrge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bare" and "berge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bare" is an adjective and "berge" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bare" vs "berge" - which ranks higher?
"berge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,562 in our German list, against #31,448 for "bare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,650,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bare" and "berge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bare vs Birk". 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 #1,650,161 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