Which to use
“brake” is a noun and “broken” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,847
- “brake” frequency rank
- #25,482
- “broken” frequency rank
- 62329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brake | broken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vorrichtung, um ein Fahrzeug zu Verlangsamen oder zum Halten zu bringen | zerbrochen, kaputt, defekt, beschädigt |
Where the eye mixes brake and broken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: brake vs broken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brake is [bɹeɪk] while broken is [ˈbrəʊkən]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62329, 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]. broken is at rank #25,482, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbrəʊkən].
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 62329, this pair ranks #716,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of brake vs broken
Shared letters: bekr. Private to "brake": a. Private to "broken": no.
"brake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "broken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brake" for "broken" ever safe?
Frequency check: "brake" vs "broken" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "brake" and "broken" 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 "broken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #716,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brake" and "broken" 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 #716,927 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.