Which to use
“barked” is an adjective and “barley” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,333
- “barked” frequency rank
- #15,106
- “barley” frequency rank
- 52439
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barked | barley |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having the specified kind of bark. | A cereal of the species Hordeum vulgare, or its grains, often used as food or to make beer and other malted drinks. |
Letter map: barked vs barley
Shared letters muted; letters that set barked and barley apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. barked (CVCCVC) and barley (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Part-of-speech tell for barked / barley
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: barked is anadjective and barleyanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barked is recorded at frequency rank #37,333, classified as anadj. barley is at rank #15,106, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɑɹli/.
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 52439, this pair ranks #157,055 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barked vs barley
Shared letters: aber. Private to "barked": dk. Private to "barley": ly.
"barked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "barley" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barked" for "barley" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barked" vs "barley" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "barked" and "barley".
- Full dictionary entry for "barked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barley" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,055 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barked" and "barley" 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 #157,055 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.