Which to use
“bare” is an adjective and “Bern” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,448
- “bare” frequency rank
- #3,359
- “Bern” frequency rank
- 34807
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bare | Bern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bar | Stadt in der Schweiz; Bundesstadt der Schweiz |
Where the eye mixes bare and Bern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bare and Bern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bare is [ˈbaːʁə] while Bern is [bɛʁn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34807, 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]. Bern is at rank #3,359, tagged as aname, pronounced [bɛʁn].
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 34807, this pair ranks #1,654,817 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bare vs Bern
Shared letters: ber. Private to "bare": a. Private to "Bern": n.
"bare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "Bern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bare" for "Bern" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "bare" or "Bern" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Bern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,654,817 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bare" and "Bern" 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 #1,654,817 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.