bravvsbravoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: brav is a adjective, bravo is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“brav” is an adjective and “bravo” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,775
“brav” frequency rank
#7,732
“bravo” frequency rank
14507
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brav bravo
Definition Gehorsam zeigend Ausruf des Lobes und der Begeisterung

Where the eye mixes brav and bravo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
brav
5 ch
bravo

Look-alike desk: brav vs bravo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brav is [bʁaːf] while bravo is [ˈbʁaːvo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “brav” sits inside “bravo”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brav is recorded at frequency rank #6,775, classified as anadj, pronounced [bʁaːf]. bravo is at rank #7,732, tagged as anintj, pronounced [ˈbʁaːvo].

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 14507, this pair ranks #1,950,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of brav vs bravo

Shared letters: abrv. Private to "brav": -. Private to "bravo": o.

"brav" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "bravo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bravbarv · bbrav · bravv · brrav · brva · rbav
  • bravobarvo · bbravo · braov · bravvo · brravo · brvao · rbavo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brav" and "bravo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "brav" is an adjective and "bravo" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "brav" or "bravo"?
"brav" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,775 in our German list, against #7,732 for "bravo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "brav" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bravo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,950,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brav" and "bravo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brav vs brun". 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 #1,950,723 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