English homophones
berth/birth
"birth" (#1,745 written frequency) beats "berth" (#16,179) in this 2-word /bɜːθ/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /bɜːθ/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "birth" leads at #1,745, with "berth" trailing at #16,179.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- No shared spelling stem: "berth" is 5 letters, "birth" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across berth, birth: bhrt. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
berth
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory behrt · private e
birth
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory bhirt · private i
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "berth" when you mean: Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the wa…
- Write "birth" when you mean: The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's …
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
noun · /bɜːθ/ · #16,179 frequency
Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.
noun · /bɜːθ/ · #1,745 frequency
The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment.
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (berth, birth). Here's where to go from here.
- "birth" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #1,745 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: bad · bade. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "berth, birth" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.