bauevsbrunConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#12,670
“baue” frequency rank
#48,026
“brun” frequency rank
60696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baue brun
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bauen braun

Letter map: baue vs brun

Shared letters muted; letters that set baue and brun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. baue (CVVV) and brun (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
baue
4 ch
brun

Role in the sentence - baue and brun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: baue is averb and brunanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baue is recorded at frequency rank #12,670, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbaʊ̯ə]. brun is at rank #48,026, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].

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 60696, this pair ranks #777,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baue vs brun

Shared letters: bu. Private to "baue": ae. Private to "brun": nr.

"baue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "brun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baue ← abue · baeu · bbaue · buae
  • brun ← bbrun · brnu · brrun · brunn · rbun

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "baue" for "brun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "baue" is a verb and "brun" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "baue" or "brun"?
"baue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,670 in our German list, against #48,026 for "brun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "baue" vs "brun" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #777,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baue" and "brun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brun vs puzzles". 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 #777,368 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