Which to use
“barb” and “bast” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,268
- “barb” frequency rank
- #47,486
- “bast” frequency rank
- 66754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barb | bast |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else. | Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made. |
Where the eye mixes barb and bast
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. barb and bast follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: barb vs bast
A purely visual mix-up. barb (/bɑː(ɹ)b/) and bast (/bɑːst/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barb is recorded at frequency rank #19,268, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɑː(ɹ)b/. bast is at rank #47,486, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɑːst/.
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 66754, this pair ranks #66,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of barb vs bast
Shared letters: ab. Private to "barb": r. Private to "bast": st.
"barb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barb" for "bast" ever safe?
Which is more common, "barb" or "bast"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "barb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bast" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barb" and "bast" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bast vs BFS". 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 #66,549 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.