Which to use
“barked” is an adjective and “barker” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,333
- “barked” frequency rank
- #13,099
- “barker” frequency rank
- 50432
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barked | barker |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having the specified kind of bark. | Someone or something who barks. |
Letter map: barked vs barker
Shared letters muted; letters that set barked and barker apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. barked and barker follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - barked and barker
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: barked is anadjective and barkeranoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “barked” becomes r in “barker”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barked is recorded at frequency rank #37,333, classified as anadj. barker is at rank #13,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɑː(ɹ)kɚ/.
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 50432, this pair ranks #174,307 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barked vs barker
Shared letters: abekr. Private to "barked": d. Private to "barker": -.
"barked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "barker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barked" for "barker" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barked" vs "barker" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "barked" and "barker". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "barked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #174,307 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barked" and "barker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barked vs blanked". 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 #174,307 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.