beauvsbraWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: beau is a adjective, bra is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beau” is an adjective and “bra” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,995
“beau” frequency rank
#38,655
“bra” frequency rank
72650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beau bra
Definition schön, gut, angenehm paariger Körperteil zwischen Rumpf und Hand; Arm

Where the eye mixes beau and bra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
beau
3 ch
bra

Visual trap between beau and bra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beau is [bo] while bra is [bɣa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beau is recorded at frequency rank #33,995, classified as anadj, pronounced [bo]. bra is at rank #38,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɣa].

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 72650, this pair ranks #382,332 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of beau vs bra

Shared letters: ab. Private to "beau": eu. Private to "bra": r.

"beau" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beaubbeau · beua · ebau

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beau" for "bra" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beau" is an adjective and "bra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "beau" or "bra" show up more?
"beau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,995 in our German list, against #38,655 for "bra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "beau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #382,332 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beau" and "bra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bic vs bra". 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 #382,332 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