# bacteria vs bacterium

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### bacteria
*noun · IPA /bakˈtɪə̯.ri.ə/ · frequency rank #5,188*
plural of bacterium

### bacterium
*noun · IPA /bækˈtɪəɹ.ɪəm/ · frequency rank #27,064*
A single-celled organism with cell walls but no nucleus or organelles.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacteria-vs-bacterium