boisvsbriseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#27,226
“bois” frequency rank
#25,930
“brise” frequency rank
53156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bois brise
Definition Baumaterial, das man aus Bäumen gewinnt: Holz Brise, Lüftchen

Where the eye mixes bois and brise

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bois runs 4 letters (CVVC) against brise's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
bois
5 ch
brise

Visual trap between bois and brise

A purely visual mix-up. bois ([bwa]) 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 53156, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bois is recorded at frequency rank #27,226, classified as anoun, pronounced [bwa]. 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 53156, this pair ranks #1,069,016 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bois vs brise

Shared letters: bis. Private to "bois": o. Private to "brise": er.

"bois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "brise" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bois ← bbois · boiss · bosi · obis
  • brise ← bbrise · birse · bries · brisse · brrise · brsie · rbise

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bois" and "brise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bwa] versus [bʁiz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bois" or "brise"?
"brise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,930 in our German list, against #27,226 for "bois". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bois" and "brise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bois" 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 #1,069,016 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bois" and "brise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bims vs bois". 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 #1,069,016 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