Which to use
“barr” and “ber” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,138
- “barr” frequency rank
- #48,940
- “ber” frequency rank
- 82078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barr | ber |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sommet, cime (montagne, arbre). | Appareil de charpente et de cordage, placé sous un grand bâtiment, pour le supporter pendant la construction ou la réparation, et qui glisse sur la cale lorsqu’on lance ce bâtiment à l’eau. |
Where the eye mixes barr and ber
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses barr with ber
A purely visual mix-up. barr (\ˈbɑːr\) and ber (\bɛʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barr is recorded at frequency rank #33,138, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈbɑːr\. ber is at rank #48,940, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁ\.
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 82078, this pair ranks #17,472 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of barr vs ber
Shared letters: br. Private to "barr": a. Private to "ber": e.
"barr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ber" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- barr ← abrr · bbarr · brar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barr" for "ber" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barr" vs "ber" - which ranks higher?
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 "barr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ber" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,472 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barr" and "ber" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ber vs bury". 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 #17,472 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.