breakingvsunitedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,242
“breaking” frequency rank
#6,115
“united” frequency rank
23357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature breaking united
Definition Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs break Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs unite

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set breaking and united apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
breaking
6 ch
united

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

breaking and united are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

breaking is recorded at frequency rank #17,242, classified as averb, pronounced […]. united is at rank #6,115, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 23357, this pair ranks #1,862,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of breaking vs united

Shared letters: ein. Private to "breaking": abgkr. Private to "united": dtu.

"breaking" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC  ·  "united" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • breakingbbreaking · beraking · braeking · breaikng · breakign · breakingg · breakinng · breakking
  • unitednuited · uinted · unietd · unitde · unitedd · unitted · unnited · untied

Frequency comparison

breaking#17,242
united#6,115

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "breaking" and "united" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "breaking" or "united"?
"united" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,115 in our German list, against #17,242 for "breaking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering breaking vs united

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 “breaking” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list