barevsbraWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#31,448
“bare” frequency rank
#38,655
“bra” frequency rank
70103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bare bra
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bar paariger Körperteil zwischen Rumpf und Hand; Arm

Where the eye mixes bare and bra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bare
3 ch
bra

Look-alike desk: bare vs bra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bare is [ˈbaːʁə] while bra is [bɣa]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70103, 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]. bra is at rank #38,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɣa].

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 70103, this pair ranks #456,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bare vs bra

Shared letters: abr. Private to "bare": e. Private to "bra": -.

"bare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barebarre · bbare · brae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bare" for "bra" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bare" is an adjective and "bra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bare" vs "bra" - which ranks higher?
"bare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,448 in our German list, against #38,655 for "bra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "bra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #456,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bare" and "bra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bic vs bra". 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 #456,360 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