Which to use
“bear” is a verb and “bed” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,034
- “bear” frequency rank
- #41,757
- “bed” frequency rank
- 65791
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bear | bed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Soportar, aguantar. | Mundo. |
Where the eye mixes bear and bed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bear vs bed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bear is /bɛə(ɹ)/ while bed is /ˈbeːt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bear is recorded at frequency rank #24,034, classified as averb, pronounced /bɛə(ɹ)/. bed is at rank #41,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbeːt/.
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 65791, this pair ranks #41,607 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bear vs bed
Shared letters: be. Private to "bear": ar. Private to "bed": d.
"bear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "bed" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bear ← baer · bbear · bearr · ebar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bear" for "bed" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "bear" or "bed" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,607 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bear" and "bed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bed vs Bru". 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 #41,607 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.