baervsbarrerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“baer” and “barrer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,618
“baer” frequency rank
#12,523
“barrer” frequency rank
53141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baer barrer
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du présent du verbe baé. Fermer avec une barre.

Where the eye mixes baer and barrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
baer
6 ch
barrer

Visual trap between baer and barrer

A purely visual mix-up. baer (\baˈɛr\) and barrer (\ba.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baer is recorded at frequency rank #40,618, classified as averb, pronounced \baˈɛr\. barrer is at rank #12,523, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.ʁe\.

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 53141, this pair ranks #142,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baer vs barrer

Shared letters: aber. Private to "baer": -. Private to "barrer": -.

"baer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "barrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baeraber · baerr · bbaer
  • barrerabrrer · barerr · barrerr · barrre · bbarrer · brarer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "baer" and "barrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\baˈɛr\ versus \ba.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "baer" or "barrer"?
"barrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,523 in our French list, against #40,618 for "baer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "barrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baer" and "barrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "badger vs baer". 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 #142,780 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list