batesvsbravesConfusable pair

Quick tell: bates is a verb, braves is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bates” is a verb and “braves” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,536
“bates” frequency rank
#46,538
“braves” frequency rank
81074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bates braves
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bate Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs brav

Letter map: bates vs braves

Shared letters muted; letters that set bates and braves apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
bates
6 ch
braves

Role in the sentence - bates and braves

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bates is averb and bravesanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bates is recorded at frequency rank #34,536, classified as averb, pronounced […]. braves is at rank #46,538, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʁaːvəs].

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 81074, this pair ranks #182,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bates vs braves

Shared letters: abes. Private to "bates": t. Private to "braves": rv.

"bates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "braves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • batesbatess · batse · battes · bbates · btaes
  • bravesbarves · bbraves · braevs · bravess · bravse · bravves · brraves · brvaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bates" and "braves" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bates" is a verb and "braves" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "bates" or "braves" show up more?
"bates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,536 in our German list, against #46,538 for "braves". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bates" and "braves".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "braves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #182,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bates" and "braves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Brauns vs braves". 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 #182,796 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