Bare or bear?
bare is an adjective meaning “Minimal; that is or are just sufficient”; bear is a noun meaning “A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or…”. Use bare as an adjective and bear as a noun (bear is also an adjective: “Characterized by declining prices in securities markets or…”). They sound the same (/bɛə/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) bear is about 3.4 times as common as bare.
What is the difference between bare and bear?
| bare | bear | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, adverb, noun, verb | noun, verb, adjective |
| Meaning | Minimal; that is or are just sufficient Naked, uncovered Barely | A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous) of the family Ursidae; having shaggy fur, a very small tail, and… The meat of this animal To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in |
| Example | a bare majority | We had barbecued bear for dinner |
| Forms | barer, barest | bears |
| Pronunciation | /bɛə/ /bɛː/ /bɛɹ/ | /bɛə/ /bɛː/ /bɪə/ |
| In writing | 15 times per million words | 51 times per million words |
Sources: bare and bear in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of bare and bear
bare
- 1
Minimal; that is or are just sufficient
a bare majority
- 2
Barely
- 3
The surface, the (bare) skin
- 4
To uncover; to reveal
She bared her teeth at him
- 5
An indigenous people of northwest Brazil and Venezuela
- 6
Naked, uncovered
- 7
slangVery; significantly
That pissed me off bare
- 8
Surface; body; substance
bear
- 1
A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous) of the family Ursidae; having shaggy fur, a very small tail, and flat feet
- 2
To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in
to bear a railroad stock
- 3
Characterized by declining prices in securities markets or by belief that the prices will fall
The great bear market starting in 1929 scared a whole generation of investors
- 4
To carry or convey, literally or figuratively
They came bearing gifts
- 5
Alternative spelling of bere (“barley”)
There are several plots of those species of barley called big, which is six-rowed barley; or bear, which is four-rowed, cultivated
- 6
Alternative spelling of bere (“pillowcase”)
I give to my Grand Child Lidea Carpenter the Coverlid that her mother spun and my pillow bear and a pint Cup & my great Pott that belongs to the Pott and Trammels
- 7
The meat of this animal
We had barbecued bear for dinner
- 8
To carry (weapons, flags or symbols of rank, office, etc.) upon one's person, especially visibly; to be equipped with (weapons, etc.)
the right to bear arms
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, bare or bear?
bare appears 15 times per million words; bear 51 times per million words.
bare 15 times per million wordsbear 51 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search bare vs bear?
“bare vs bear” is searched about 9,900 times a month on Google and 310 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“bear vs bare”, “bare or bear”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.