Bears are bare because they bear no pants. Also, it’s not really smart to arm an arm-baring bear. I mean, he doesn’t have a shirt—I doubt he has a concealed weapons permit.

The confusing thing about bare and bear isn’t really bare and bear—bear and bear is where the trouble starts. Am I right? Let’s break this down:

Bare: (adj.) naked, stark, unconcealed, unadorned (verb) to reveal, divulge or expose

Examples:

The cupboard was bare.

In the summer, we like to bare our arms and legs.

Bear: (noun) the animal (verb) to hold, carry, transmit, bring forth, press or push against, be fit or worthy, exhibit, endure OR you can use it to express a direction or course OR it can mean to weigh down on OR it can be used to talk about concentrating on a specific thing… and don’t even get me started on all the nautical uses for it.

Examples:

Hey, watch out for that bear!

You really bore the brunt of that outburst. Why was he so upset about bearing children anyway? Here, bear down on this. Bear right at the fork. Bear with me on this, that tree usually bears fruit.

So on and so forth. So basically, if you’re not talking about being naked or having a lack of stuff, you’re going to need to use a form of bear instead of bare. And those, my friends, are the bare essentials.