Which to use
“base” and “bath” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #942
- “base” frequency rank
- #3,352
- “bath” frequency rank
- 4294
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | base | bath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something from which other things extend; a foundation. | A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub. |
Where the eye mixes base and bath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. base (/beɪs/) and bath (/bɑːθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
base is recorded at frequency rank #942, classified as anoun, pronounced /beɪs/. bath is at rank #3,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɑːθ/.
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 4294, this pair ranks #519,397 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of base vs bath
Shared letters: ab. Private to "base": es. Private to "bath": ht.
"base" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "bath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC