barkedvsbattedConfusable pair

Which to use

“barked” and “batted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,333
“barked” frequency rank
#22,585
“batted” frequency rank
59918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barked batted
Definition Having the specified kind of bark. Carrying a bat (the sports equipment, but maybe also the animal).

Letter map: barked vs batted

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

6 ch
barked
6 ch
batted

Spelling & dictionary notes on barked vs batted

barked and batted are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barked is recorded at frequency rank #37,333, classified as anadj. batted is at rank #22,585, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbætɪd/.

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 59918, this pair ranks #103,304 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barked vs batted

Shared letters: abde. Private to "barked": kr. Private to "batted": t.

"barked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "batted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barkedabrked · bakred · barekd · barkde · barkedd · barkked · barrked · bbarked
  • battedabtted · bated · batetd · battde · battedd · bbatted · btated

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "barked" for "batted" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "barked" or "batted"?
"batted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,585 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.

Useful next steps

You've compared "barked" and "batted". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "barked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "batted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #103,304 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barked" and "batted" 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 #103,304 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