barcavsbarraWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: barca is a intj, barra is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“barca” is an intj and “barra” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,194
“barca” frequency rank
#36,267
“barra” frequency rank
73461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barca barra
Definition Assez, ça suffit. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de barrer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set barca and barra apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
barca
5 ch
barra

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barca is \baʁ.ka\ while barra is \ba.ʁa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “barca” becomes r in “barra”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barca is recorded at frequency rank #37,194, classified as anintj, pronounced \baʁ.ka\. barra is at rank #36,267, tagged as averb, pronounced \ba.ʁa\.

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 73461, this pair ranks #40,388 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barca vs barra

Shared letters: abr. Private to "barca": c. Private to "barra": -.

"barca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "barra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barcaabrca · bacra · barac · barcca · barrca · bbarca · braca
  • barraabrra · barar · bbarra · brara

Frequency comparison

barca#37,194
barra#36,267

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "barca" and "barra" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "barca" is an intj and "barra" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "barca" or "barra"?
"barra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,267 in our French list, against #37,194 for "barca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering barca vs barra

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an intj, it's “barca”; for a verb, it's “barra”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “barca” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list