Which to use
“bare” is an adjective and “born” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,293
- “bare” frequency rank
- #843
- “born” frequency rank
- 6136
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bare | born |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Minimal; that is or are just sufficient. | past participle of bear; given birth to. |
Where the eye mixes bare and born
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bare is /bɛə/ while born is /bɔːn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bare is recorded at frequency rank #5,293, classified as anadj, pronounced /bɛə/. born is at rank #843, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɔːn/.
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 6136, this pair ranks #512,603 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bare vs born
Shared letters: br. Private to "bare": ae. Private to "born": no.
"bare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "born" · 4 letters · shape CVCC