bra vs brake, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#38,655
“bra” frequency rank: #36,847
“brake” frequency rank: 75502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	bra	brake
Definition	paariger Körperteil zwischen Rumpf und Hand; Arm	Vorrichtung, um ein Fahrzeug zu Verlangsamen oder zum Halten zu bringen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bra and brake apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

bra

5 ch

brake

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bra ([bɣa]) and brake ([bɹeɪk]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “bra” sits inside “brake”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bra is recorded at frequency rank #38,655, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɣa]. 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 75502, this pair ranks #306,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bra vs brake

Shared letters: abr. Private to "bra": -. Private to "brake": ek.

"bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "brake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

brake ← barke · bbrake · brakke · brkae · brrake · rbake

Frequency comparison

bra#38,655

brake#36,847

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bra" and "brake" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([bɣa] versus [bɹeɪk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "bra" or "brake"?

"brake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,847 in our German list, against #38,655 for "bra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bra vs brake

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bra” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable