Which to use
“barge” is a noun and “barred” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,893
- “barge” frequency rank
- #10,988
- “barred” frequency rank
- 25881
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barge | barred |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large flat-bottomed towed or self-propelled boat used mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods or bulk cargo. | simple past and past participle of bar |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set barge and barred apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
barge and barred form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barge is recorded at frequency rank #14,893, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɑːd͡ʒ/. barred is at rank #10,988, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbɑː(ɹ)d/.
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 25881, this pair ranks #390,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "barge" and "barred" be used interchangeably?
Remembering barge vs barred
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “barge”; for a verb, it's “barred”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “barge” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable