BurgvsBurmaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Burg is a noun, Burma is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Burg” is a noun and “Burma” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,363
“Burg” frequency rank
#38,661
“Burma” frequency rank
42024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Burg Burma
Definition mittelalterlicher, befestigter Wohn- und Verteidigungsbau ein Land in Südostasien

Where the eye mixes Burg and Burma

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

4 ch
Burg
5 ch
Burma

Visual trap between Burg and Burma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Burg is [bʊʁk] while Burma is [ˈbʊʁmaː]. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42024, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Burg is recorded at frequency rank #3,363, classified as anoun, pronounced [bʊʁk]. Burma is at rank #38,661, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈbʊʁmaː].

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 42024, this pair ranks #1,461,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Burg vs Burma

Shared letters: bru. Private to "Burg": g. Private to "Burma": am.

"Burg" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Burma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Burgbburg · brug · bugr · burgg · burrg · ubrg
  • Burmabburma · bruma · bumra · buram · burmma · burrma · ubrma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Burg" and "Burma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Burg" is a noun and "Burma" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Burg" or "Burma"?
"Burg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,363 in our German list, against #38,661 for "Burma". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Burg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Burma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,461,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Burg" and "Burma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Burma vs burt". 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 #1,461,905 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