Which to use
“bakes” is a verb and “barked” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,135
- “bakes” frequency rank
- #37,333
- “barked” frequency rank
- 77468
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bakes | barked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of bake | Having the specified kind of bark. |
Letter map: bakes vs barked
Shared letters muted; letters that set bakes and barked apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. bakes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against barked's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: bakes vs barked
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bakes is averb and barkedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bakes is recorded at frequency rank #40,135, classified as averb, pronounced /beɪks/. barked is at rank #37,333, tagged as anadj.
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 77468, this pair ranks #27,163 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bakes vs barked
Shared letters: abek. Private to "bakes": s. Private to "barked": dr.
"bakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "barked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bakes" and "barked" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bakes" vs "barked" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bakes" and "barked".
- Full dictionary entry for "bakes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,163 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bakes" and "barked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bails vs bakes". 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 #27,163 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.