Which to use
“barred” is a verb and “barrier” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,988
- “barred” frequency rank
- #5,574
- “barrier” frequency rank
- 16562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barred | barrier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of bar | A structure that bars passage. |
Where the eye mixes barred and barrier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between barred and barrier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barred is /ˈbɑː(ɹ)d/ while barrier is /ˈbæɹi.ə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barred is recorded at frequency rank #10,988, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbɑː(ɹ)d/. barrier is at rank #5,574, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæɹi.ə(ɹ)/.
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 16562, this pair ranks #456,981 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of barred vs barrier
Shared letters: aber. Private to "barred": d. Private to "barrier": i.
"barred" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "barrier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barred" for "barrier" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barred" vs "barrier" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "barred" and "barrier" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "barred" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "barrier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #456,981 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barred" and "barrier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barred vs barreled". 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 #456,981 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.