Beer or bier?
beer is a noun meaning “An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often…”; bier is a noun meaning “A litter to transport the corpse of a dead person”. They sound the same (/ˈbɪə̯/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) beer is about 174 times as common as bier.
What is the difference between beer and bier?
| beer | bier | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter flavor A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc informalTo give beer to (someone) | A litter to transport the corpse of a dead person A platform or stand where a body or coffin is placed |
| Example | Beer is brewed all over the world | none recorded |
| Forms | beers | biers |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɪə̯/ /ˈbɪː/ /ˈbɪjə/ | /bɪə/ /bɪɚ/ |
| In writing | 50 times per million words | about once in every 3 million words |
Sources: beer and bier in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of beer and bier
beer
- 1
An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter flavor
Beer is brewed all over the world
- 2
informalTo give beer to (someone)
No doubt he then can feed us, wine us, beer us, And cook us something that can warm and cheer us
- 3
A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc
- 4
informalTo drink beer
- 5
A solution produced by steeping plant materials in water or another fluid
- 6
A glass, bottle, or can of any of the above beverages
I bought a few beers from the shop for the party
- 7
A variety of the above beverages
Pilsner is one of the most commonly served beers in Europe
bier
- 1
A litter to transport the corpse of a dead person
- 2
A platform or stand where a body or coffin is placed
- 3
A count of forty threads in the warp or chain of woollen cloth
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, beer or bier?
beer appears 50 times per million words; bier about once in every 3 million words.
beer 50 times per million wordsbier about once in every 3 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).