Which to use
“bears” and “bern” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,298
- “bears” frequency rank
- #26,641
- “bern” frequency rank
- 58939
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bears | bern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bear. | Tas, monceau. |
Where the eye mixes bears and bern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bears with bern
A purely visual mix-up. bears (\bɛʁ\) and bern (\ˈbɛrn\) 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 58939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bears is recorded at frequency rank #32,298, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁ\. bern is at rank #26,641, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈbɛrn\.
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 58939, this pair ranks #106,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bears vs bern
Shared letters: ber. Private to "bears": as. Private to "bern": n.
"bears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "bern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bears" and "bern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bears" or "bern"?
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 "bears" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bears" and "bern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bears vs boers". 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 #106,027 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.