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berlin

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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Letters

6 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "berlin", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "berlin" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "berlin" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Berlin is aEnglishname. It means: The capital and largest city of Germany. Pronounced /bəˈlɪn/. It ranks #3,741 in English word frequency. Often confused with Bern and brin.

Key facts for Berlin
PropertyValue
HeadwordBerlin
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/bəˈlɪn/
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,741
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Berlin in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Berlin is 6 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bəˈlɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,741 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 37 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for Berlin, with forms such as "bberlin", "belrin", and "beriln". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "Bern", "brin", "brain", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from German Berlin. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is Berlin, spelled B-E-R-L-I-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The capital and largest city of Germany.
  2. 2
    The German government.
  3. 3
    A state of Germany containing the capital city.
  4. 4
    A surname from German.
  5. 5
    A female given name from German.
  6. 6
    A civil parish of the municipality of Seedorf, Segeberg district, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
  7. 7
    The former name of Kitchener, a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
  8. 8
    A village in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia.
  9. 9
    A small town in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa.
  10. 10
    A place in the United States.
  11. 11
    A place in the United States.
  12. 12
    A place in the United States.
  13. 13
    A place in the United States.
  14. 14
    A place in the United States.
  15. 15
    A place in the United States.
  16. 16
    A place in the United States.
  17. 17
    A place in the United States.
  18. 18
    A place in the United States.
  19. 19
    A place in the United States.
  20. 20
    A place in the United States.
  21. 21
    A place in the United States.
  22. 22
    A place in the United States.
  23. 23
    A place in the United States.
  24. 24
    A place in the United States.
  25. 25
    A place in the United States.
  26. 26
    A place in the United States.
  27. 27
    A place in the United States.
  28. 28
    A place in the United States.
  29. 29
    A place in the United States.
  30. 30
    A place in the United States.
  31. 31
    A place in the United States.
  32. 32
    A place in the United States.
  33. 33
    A place in the United States.
  34. 34
    A place in the United States.
  35. 35
    A place in the United States.
  36. 36
    A place in the United States.
  37. 37
    Ellipsis of Berlin Township.

Etymology

Borrowed from German Berlin.

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bberlin,belrin,beriln,berlinn,berllin,berlni,berrlin,brelin,ebrlin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Berlin

Misspelling Variants of "Berlin"

bberlin7belrin6beriln6berlinn7berllin7berlni6berrlin7brelin6
Misspelling Variants of "Berlin"

Frequency rank: #3,741 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Berlin"?
"Berlin" is spelled B-E-R-L-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is /bəˈlɪn/.
What does "Berlin" mean?
As a name, "Berlin" means: The capital and largest city of Germany.
What words are commonly confused with "Berlin"?
"Berlin" is commonly confused with "Bern", "brin", "brain". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Berlin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Berlin" is /bəˈlɪn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Berlin"?
Borrowed from German Berlin. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index:

All "B" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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Confusable Pairs

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Tips & reference

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.