Which to use
“borne” and “burns” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,658
- “borne” frequency rank
- #4,742
- “burns” frequency rank
- 16400
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | borne | burns |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of bear | third-person singular simple present indicative of burn |
Where the eye mixes borne and burns
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses borne with burns
A purely visual mix-up. borne (/bɔːn/) and burns (/bɜːnz/) 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 16400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
borne is recorded at frequency rank #11,658, classified as averb, pronounced /bɔːn/. burns is at rank #4,742, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɜːnz/.
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 16400, this pair ranks #457,954 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of borne vs burns
Shared letters: bnr. Private to "borne": eo. Private to "burns": su.
"borne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "burns" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "borne" for "burns" ever safe?
Frequency check: "borne" vs "burns" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "borne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "burns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,954 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "borne" and "burns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "borne vs Burney". 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 #457,954 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.