Which to use
“berth” is a noun and “bests” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,179
- “berth” frequency rank
- #47,490
- “bests” frequency rank
- 63669
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | berth | bests |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore. | A polite, formulaic end to a letter or email. |
Where the eye mixes berth and bests
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between berth and bests
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: berth is /bɜːθ/ while bests is /bɛsts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
berth is recorded at frequency rank #16,179, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɜːθ/. bests is at rank #47,490, tagged as anintj, pronounced /bɛsts/.
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 63669, this pair ranks #81,721 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of berth vs bests
Shared letters: bet. Private to "berth": hr. Private to "bests": s.
"berth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "bests" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "berth" for "bests" ever safe?
Which is more common, "berth" or "bests"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "berth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bests" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #81,721 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "berth" and "bests" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bestie vs bests". 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 #81,721 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.