Berry or bury?
berry is a noun meaning “A small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties”; bury is a verb meaning “To kill or murder”. Use berry as a noun and bury as a verb (berry is also a verb: “To pick berries”). They sound the same (/ˈbɛɹi/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) berry is about as common as bury.
What is the difference between berry and bury?
| berry | bury | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb, noun, suffix |
| Meaning | A small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties A soft fruit which develops from a single ovary and contains seeds not encased in pits To pick berries | To outlive To place in the ground A borough; a manor |
| Example | On summer days Grandma used to take us berrying, whether we wanted to go or not | Grandpa’s still in excellent health. He’ll bury us all! |
| Forms | berries | buries, burying, buried |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɛɹi/ /ˈbeɹi/ [ˈbeɹi] ~ [ˈbe̞ɹi] | /ˈbɛɹi/ /ˈbeɹi/ [ˈbeɹiː] ~ [ˈbe̞ɹiː] |
| In writing | 9.3 times per million words | 7.8 times per million words |
Sources: berry and bury 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 berry and bury
berry
- 1
A small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties
- 2
To pick berries
On summer days Grandma used to take us berrying, whether we wanted to go or not
- 3
A mound; a barrow
- 4
A burrow, especially a rabbit's burrow
- 5
To beat; give a beating to; thrash
- 6
A soft fruit which develops from a single ovary and contains seeds not encased in pits
- 7
To bear or produce berries
- 8
An excavation; a military mine
bury
- 1
slangTo kill or murder
- 2
A borough; a manor
- 3
A placename suffix indicating a fortified place
- 4
To outlive
Grandpa’s still in excellent health. He’ll bury us all!
- 5
To place in the ground
bury a bone; bury the embers
- 6
To hide or conceal as if by covering with earth or another substance
She buried her face in the pillow, and I buried mine in my hands
- 7
To render imperceptible by other, more prominent stimuli; to drown out
vocals buried in the mix
- 8
To overwhelm
They buried us in paperwork
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, berry or bury?
berry appears 9.3 times per million words; bury 7.8 times per million words.
berry 9.3 times per million wordsbury 7.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).