BarschvsBruchTell them apart

Which to use

“Barsch” and “Bruch” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,677
“Barsch” frequency rank
#6,401
“Bruch” frequency rank
48078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Barsch Bruch
Definition der Flussbarsch , ein Speisefisch aus der Familie der Barsche (Percidae) und der Ordnung der Barschartigen (Perciformes) das körperliche Brechen, Zertrennen eines Gegenstandes; Materials; der Ort des Brechens; ein Auseinandergehen, Trennen im weitesten Sinne von Gegenständen, Materialien, Verbindungen, Zusammenschlüssen

Where the eye mixes Barsch and Bruch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Barsch
5 ch
Bruch

Look-alike desk: Barsch vs Bruch

A purely visual mix-up. Barsch ([baʁʃ]) and Bruch ([bʁʊx]) 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 48078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Barsch is recorded at frequency rank #41,677, classified as anoun, pronounced [baʁʃ]. Bruch is at rank #6,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʁʊx].

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 48078, this pair ranks #1,261,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Barsch vs Bruch

Shared letters: bchr. Private to "Barsch": as. Private to "Bruch": u.

"Barsch" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC  ·  "Bruch" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Barschabrsch · barcsh · barrsch · barscch · barschh · barshc · barssch · basrch
  • Bruchbbruch · brcuh · brruch · brucch · bruchh · bruhc · burch · rbuch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Barsch" for "Bruch" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([baʁʃ] versus [bʁʊx]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Barsch" or "Bruch" show up more?
"Bruch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,401 in our German list, against #41,677 for "Barsch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Barsch" and "Bruch" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Barsch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bruch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,261,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Barsch" and "Bruch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Barsch vs bisch". 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 #1,261,579 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list