BissvsbriseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,867
“Biss” frequency rank
#25,930
“brise” frequency rank
35797
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Biss brise
Definition der Vorgang des Beißens Brise, Lüftchen

Where the eye mixes Biss and brise

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Biss
5 ch
brise

Look-alike desk: Biss vs brise

A purely visual mix-up. Biss ([bɪs]) and brise ([bʁiz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Biss is recorded at frequency rank #9,867, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɪs]. brise is at rank #25,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʁiz].

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 35797, this pair ranks #1,631,298 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Biss vs brise

Shared letters: bis. Private to "Biss": -. Private to "brise": er.

"Biss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "brise" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bissbbiss · bis · biß · bsis · ibss
  • brisebbrise · birse · bries · brisse · brrise · brsie · rbise

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Biss" for "brise" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bɪs] versus [bʁiz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Biss" or "brise" show up more?
"Biss" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,867 in our German list, against #25,930 for "brise". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Biss" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,631,298 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Biss" and "brise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brise vs bryce". 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 #1,631,298 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