barkedvsBarksWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: barked is a adjective, Barks is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“barked” is an adjective and “Barks” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,333
“barked” frequency rank
#28,462
“Barks” frequency rank
65795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barked Barks
Definition Having the specified kind of bark. A surname.

Letter map: barked vs Barks

Shared letters muted; letters that set barked and Barks apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
barked
5 ch
Barks

Grammar separator: barked vs Barks

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: barked is anadjective and Barksaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barked is recorded at frequency rank #37,333, classified as anadj. Barks is at rank #28,462, tagged as aname.

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 65795, this pair ranks #71,042 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barked vs Barks

Shared letters: abkr. Private to "barked": de. Private to "Barks": s.

"barked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Barks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barkedabrked · bakred · barekd · barkde · barkedd · barkked · barrked · bbarked
  • Barksabrks · bakrs · barkks · barkss · barrks · barsk · bbarks · braks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "barked" for "Barks" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "barked" is an adjective and "Barks" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "barked" or "Barks"?
"Barks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,462 in our English list, against #37,333 for "barked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "barked" and "Barks".

  • Full dictionary entry for "barked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Barks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,042 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barked" and "Barks" 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 #71,042 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list