Which to use
“bern” and “bre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,641
- “bern” frequency rank
- #40,639
- “bre” frequency rank
- 67280
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bern | bre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tas, monceau. | Mont, montagne. |
Where the eye mixes bern and bre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bern with bre
A purely visual mix-up. bern (\ˈbɛrn\) and bre (\breː\) 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 67280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bern is recorded at frequency rank #26,641, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈbɛrn\. bre is at rank #40,639, tagged as anoun, pronounced \breː\.
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 67280, this pair ranks #64,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bern vs bre
Shared letters: ber. Private to "bern": n. Private to "bre": -.
"bern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bre" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- bern ← bbern · benr · bernn · berrn · bren · ebrn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bern" for "bre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bern" vs "bre" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bern" and "bre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bre 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 #64,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.