Which to use
“brake” is a noun and “braten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,847
- “brake” frequency rank
- #11,834
- “braten” frequency rank
- 48681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brake | braten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vorrichtung, um ein Fahrzeug zu Verlangsamen oder zum Halten zu bringen | (Nahrungsmittel) durch Erhitzen, ohne umgebende Flüssigkeit oder in Fett, garen |
Where the eye mixes brake and braten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. brake runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against braten's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses brake with braten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brake is [bɹeɪk] while braten is [ˈbʁaːtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brake is recorded at frequency rank #36,847, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɹeɪk]. braten is at rank #11,834, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁaːtn̩].
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 48681, this pair ranks #1,239,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of brake vs braten
Shared letters: aber. Private to "brake": k. Private to "braten": nt.
"brake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "braten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brake" for "braten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "brake" or "braten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "brake" and "braten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "brake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "braten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,239,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brake" and "braten" 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 #1,239,575 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.