BunkervsBürgerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,838
“Bunker” frequency rank
#922
“Bürger” frequency rank
12760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bunker Bürger
Definition bombensicherer/volltreffersicherer Unterstand für Menschen und Kriegsgerät Einwohner einer Gemeinde

Where the eye mixes Bunker and Bürger

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

6 ch
Bunker
6 ch
Bürger

Why the eye confuses Bunker with Bürger

A purely visual mix-up. Bunker ([ˈbʊŋkɐ]) and Bürger ([ˈbʏʁɡɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bunker is recorded at frequency rank #11,838, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʊŋkɐ]. Bürger is at rank #922, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʏʁɡɐ].

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 12760, this pair ranks #1,962,210 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bunker vs Bürger

Shared letters: ber. Private to "Bunker": knu. Private to "Bürger": .

"Bunker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Bürger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bunkerbbunker · bnuker · bukner · bunekr · bunkerr · bunkker · bunkre · bunnker

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bunker" for "Bürger" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbʊŋkɐ] versus [ˈbʏʁɡɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Bunker" or "Bürger"?
"Bürger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #922 in our German list, against #11,838 for "Bunker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bunker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bürger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,962,210 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bunker" and "Bürger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bucket vs Bunker". 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 #1,962,210 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