berth
/bɜːθ/
"berth" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“berth” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,179 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,179
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 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.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | berth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bɜːθ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #16,179 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “berth” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for berth is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɜːθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,179 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for berth, with forms such as "bberth", "berht", and "berrth". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bet", "best", "both", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”). Further etymology uncertain, but probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., formin… The correct English form is berth, spelled B-E-R-T-H.
Definition
- 1Chiefly 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.
- 2Chiefly 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.
- 3Chiefly 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.
- 4Chiefly 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.
- 5An assigned place for a person in (chiefly historical) a horse-drawn coach or other means of transportation, or (military) in a barracks.
- 6A bunk or other bed for sleeping on in a caravan, a train, etc.
- 7A place for a vehicle on land to park.
- 8An appointment, job, or position, especially one regarded as comfortable or good.
- 9Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space for manoeuvring or safety.
- 10A proper place for a thing.
- 11A position or seed in a tournament bracket.
- 12A position on a field of play.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”). Further etymology uncertain, but probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns); if so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a piecewise doublet of birth. The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bberth,berht,berrth,berthh,bertth,betrh,breth,ebrth
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of berth - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "berth"?
What does "berth" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "berth"?
How do you pronounce "berth"?
What is the origin of the word "berth"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “berth”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-R-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bɜːθ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bet” - see the side-by-side comparison. berth vs bet
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.