bathvsBauConfusable pair

Which to use

“bath” and “Bau” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#32,434
“bath” frequency rank
#1,193
“Bau” frequency rank
33627
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bath Bau
Definition Bad (Tätigkeit) Errichtung eines Hauses oder Bauwerkes

Where the eye mixes bath and Bau

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

4 ch
bath
3 ch
Bau

Visual trap between bath and Bau

A purely visual mix-up. bath ([bɑːθ]) and Bau ([baʊ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bath is recorded at frequency rank #32,434, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɑːθ]. Bau is at rank #1,193, tagged as anoun, pronounced [baʊ̯].

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 33627, this pair ranks #1,681,674 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bath vs Bau

Shared letters: ab. Private to "bath": ht. Private to "Bau": u.

"bath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Bau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bathabth · baht · bathh · batth · bbath · btah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bath" and "Bau" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bɑːθ] versus [baʊ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bath" vs "Bau" - which ranks higher?
"Bau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,193 in our German list, against #32,434 for "bath". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bath" and "Bau" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,681,674 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bath" and "Bau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bath vs breath". 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 #1,681,674 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