BlockvsbrickWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,947
“Block” frequency rank
#40,448
“brick” frequency rank
44395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Block brick
Definition großes Stück fest verbundenen Materials, ungefähr quaderförmig der Ziegelstein

Where the eye mixes Block and brick

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

5 ch
Block
5 ch
brick

Visual trap between Block and brick

A purely visual mix-up. Block ([blɔk]) and brick ([bɹɪk]) 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 44395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Block is recorded at frequency rank #3,947, classified as anoun, pronounced [blɔk]. brick is at rank #40,448, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɹɪk].

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 44395, this pair ranks #1,387,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Block vs brick

Shared letters: bck. Private to "Block": lo. Private to "brick": ir.

"Block" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "brick" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Blockbblock · blcok · bllock · blocck · blockk · blokc · bolck · lbock
  • brickbbrick · birck · brcik · bricck · brickk · brikc · brrick · rbick

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Block" and "brick" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([blɔk] versus [bɹɪk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Block" or "brick"?
"Block" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,947 in our German list, against #40,448 for "brick". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Block" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brick" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,387,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Block" and "brick" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bic vs brick". 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 #1,387,559 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