blackvsbrachTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,330
“black” frequency rank
#4,184
“brach” frequency rank
6514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature black brach
Definition schwarz (in Bezug auf Bodenflächen) ungenutzt, leer

Where the eye mixes black and brach

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

5 ch
black
5 ch
brach

Visual trap between black and brach

A purely visual mix-up. black ([blæk]) and brach ([bʁaːx]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

black is recorded at frequency rank #2,330, classified as anadj, pronounced [blæk]. brach is at rank #4,184, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bʁaːx].

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 6514, this pair ranks #1,991,372 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of black vs brach

Shared letters: abc. Private to "black": kl. Private to "brach": hr.

"black" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "brach" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blackbalck · bblack · blacck · blackk · blakc · blcak · bllack · lback
  • brachbarch · bbrach · bracch · brachh · brahc · brcah · brrach · rbach

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "black" and "brach" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([blæk] versus [bʁaːx]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "black" or "brach" show up more?
"black" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,330 in our German list, against #4,184 for "brach". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "black" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brach" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,372 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "black" and "brach" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brach vs breath". 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 #1,991,372 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