Bear vs. Bare

With all the confusion and mistakes homophones can cause, they rate highly on the list of potentially problematic words. Once in a while, those mistakes can be funny. In the case of “bear” and “bare,” they can also be embarrassing. Here’s how it happens. The common expression “bear with me” is something we say when we want someone to be patient a little longer. However, if we were to use the homophone “bare” instead of “bear,” we wouldn’t be asking someone for patience, we’d be asking them to remove all their clothes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if our intention wasn’t to invite the person to go skinny dipping, it can be embarrassing. So it’s important to know the difference between the two.

To Bear Witness and to Bare Legs

Depending on the context, the verb “bear” can mean plenty of things. It can mean to hold, support, or carry:
But some portfolio managers say Apple is set to bear more fruit than the Street may realize. CNBC
You have to bear that in mind and not get sucked into the idea that they have your best interests at heart. BBC
This is The River, the title track of his 1980 double album—his first US No 1, ushering in a decade of superstardom—and it is one of Springsteen’s finer songs, bearing witness to ordinary people’s travails. The Guardian
Real-world events like these are woven into the plot: in the pilot, Deok-sun is ecstatic to bear the flag for Madagascar in the Olympic opening ceremony, mainly because she gets to be on television. The New Yorker
If we count phrasal verbs composed with “bear,” we get even more meanings, like to confirm, or be patient:
This theory doesn’t bear out in the data—instead, test scores in reading have essentially held constant for the past few decades (and even dropped a little in the most recent round of testing). Vox
Being truly listened to is a gift, and whilst I can’t be there exclusively for her anymore, I can try to be truly ‘there’ when I am there (bear with me; I haven’t had much sleep). Huffington Post
The homonym of the verb “bear” is the noun “bear,” which is what we call the large mammals from the family Ursidae. But “bear” can never mean what the verb “bare” means—to uncover or expose something:
She told The Sun that a quick tipple—and some flattering lighting—gave her the courage to bare all. Irish Examiner

Bare Necessities and Bear Necessities

Kudos to Baloo for being able to keep things light. The song Bare Necessities, written by Terry Gilkyson for the movie The Jungle Book and sung by the character Baloo the bear, plays with the meanings of the homophones “bear” and “bare.” This time, “bear” refers to the animal, but “bare” is not used as a verb—it’s used as an adjective. As an adjective, “bare” means naked, uncovered, exposed, minimal, or unadorned:
Clooney didn’t even notice until Roberts whispered in his ear, causing him to crack up as he tried to peer at her bare feet. USA Today
There has been many a twist and turn since then but the bare facts show that Connacht won 103 of those games, drew 13 and lost 168. Independent.ie
Twenty-eight players and thirteen pitchers required four hours and forty-five minutes to achieve closure, which arrived bare minutes into October at my house, after three separate inquiring visits from the bedroom by my fox terrier, Andy. The New Yorker

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from Grammarly Blog
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