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PlainSpell

berth

/bɜɹθ/noun, verb

berth is spelled B-E-R-T-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “berth vs birth” about 170 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, berth means “A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of berth is berths.

How many letters and syllables are in berth?

Letters5: B-E-R-T-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is berth?

Berth appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce berth?

  • UK /bɜːθ/
  • US /bɜɹθ/
  • /bɛɹθ/

Berth has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-berth.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with berth

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

berth vs birth170 G

Sounds like: birth (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: birth.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with berth?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as berth from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹθ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of berth

  • berths plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • birth
  • byrth
  • berthing participle, present
  • berthed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does berth mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.

  2. 2

    A room in a vessel in which the officers or company mess (“eat together”) and reside; also, a room or other place in a vessel for storage.

  3. 3

    A place on a vessel to sleep, especially a bed on the side of a cabin.

  4. 4

    A job or position on a vessel.

  5. 5

    An assigned place for a person in (chiefly historical) a horse-drawn coach or other means of transportation, or (military) in a barracks.

  6. 6

    A bunk or other bed for sleeping on in a caravan, a train, etc.

  7. 7

    A place for a vehicle on land to park.

  8. 8

    An appointment, job, or position, especially one regarded as comfortable or good.

verb

  1. 1

    To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).

  2. 2

    To use a device to bring (a spacecraft) into its berth or dock.

  3. 3

    To assign (someone) a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.3 or etymology 1, noun sense 2.2) or place to sleep on a vessel, a train, etc.

  4. 4

    To provide (someone) with a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or appointment, job, or position.

  5. 5

    Of a vessel: to move into a berth.

  6. 6

    Of a person: to occupy a berth.

  7. 7

    archaicChiefly in shipbuilding: to construct (a ship or part of it) using wooden boards or planks; to board, to plank.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Berth in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmarge de manœuvre ((nautical) sufficient space in the water for a…), anneau d'amarrage, bitte, poste d'amarrage ((nautical) place for a vessel to lie at anchor…), couchette ((nautical) place on a vessel to sleep; (by…)
GermanBootssteg, Ladeplatz, Landesteg, Landungsplatz, Liegeplatz ((nautical) place for a vessel to lie at anchor…), Koje ((nautical) place on a vessel to sleep; (by…)
Portuguesevaga ((nautical) place for a vessel to lie at anchor…), camarote ((nautical) place on a vessel to sleep; (by…), atracar (to bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth…)
Spanishamarradero, embarcadero ((nautical) place for a vessel to lie at anchor…), catre ((nautical) place on a vessel to sleep; (by…), atracar (to bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth…), plaza (position or seed in a tournament bracket)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does berth come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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