BiervsBreiWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,282
“Bier” frequency rank
#15,320
“Brei” frequency rank
16602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bier Brei
Definition aus Hopfen, Malz und Wasser gebrautes (meistens) alkoholisches Getränk dickflüssige gekochte Speise

Where the eye mixes Bier and Brei

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

4 ch
Bier
4 ch
Brei

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Bier ([biːɐ̯]) and Brei ([bʁaɪ̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bier is recorded at frequency rank #1,282, classified as anoun, pronounced [biːɐ̯]. Brei is at rank #15,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʁaɪ̯].

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 16602, this pair ranks #1,934,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bier vs Brei

Shared letters: beir. Private to "Bier": -. Private to "Brei": -.

"Bier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Brei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bierbbier · beir · bierr · bire · iber
  • Breibbrei · beri · brie · brrei · rbei

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bier" and "Brei" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([biːɐ̯] versus [bʁaɪ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Bier" or "Brei"?
"Bier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,282 in our German list, against #15,320 for "Brei". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Bier" and "Brei". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Brei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,934,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bier" and "Brei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Brei vs Brenz". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list