Which to use
“blake” is a verb and “brake” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,939
- “blake” frequency rank
- #36,847
- “brake” frequency rank
- 53786
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blake | brake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs blaken | Vorrichtung, um ein Fahrzeug zu Verlangsamen oder zum Halten zu bringen |
Where the eye mixes blake and brake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blake and brake
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blake is [ˈblaːkə] while brake is [bɹeɪk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “blake” becomes r in “brake”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blake is recorded at frequency rank #16,939, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈblaːkə]. brake is at rank #36,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɹeɪk].
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 53786, this pair ranks #1,044,290 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of blake vs brake
Shared letters: abek. Private to "blake": l. Private to "brake": r.
"blake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "brake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blake" for "brake" ever safe?
Which is more common, "blake" or "brake"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "blake" and "brake" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,044,290 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blake" and "brake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brake 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 #1,044,290 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.