bereitvsBreiteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#807
“bereit” frequency rank
#1,915
“Breite” frequency rank
2722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bereit Breite
Definition auf etwas vorbereitet, mit der Vorbereitung fertig horizontale Ausdehnung, Dimension, als Gegenstück zur Länge, Höhe oder Tiefe eine messbare Strecke an zweidimensionalen oder dreidimensionalen, rechtwinkligen Objekten, an Flächen und Körpern

Where the eye mixes bereit and Breite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
bereit
6 ch
Breite

Why the eye confuses bereit with Breite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bereit is [bəˈʁaɪ̯t] while Breite is [ˈbʁaɪ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bereit is recorded at frequency rank #807, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁaɪ̯t]. Breite is at rank #1,915, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁaɪ̯tə].

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 2722, this pair ranks #2,001,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bereit vs Breite

Shared letters: beirt. Private to "bereit": -. Private to "Breite": -.

"bereit" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "Breite" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bereitbbereit · beerit · bereitt · bereti · berreit · breeit · ebreit
  • Breitebbreite · berite · breiet · breitte · bretie · briete · brreite · rbeite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bereit" for "Breite" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bereit" is an adjective and "Breite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bereit" or "Breite"?
"bereit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #807 in our German list, against #1,915 for "Breite". 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 "bereit" and "Breite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bereit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Breite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,001,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bereit" and "Breite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breeze vs Breite". 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 #2,001,733 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