brechenvsBrechtsTell them apart

Quick tell: brechen is a verb, Brechts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“brechen” is a verb and “Brechts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,876
“brechen” frequency rank
#39,854
“Brechts” frequency rank
43730
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brechen Brechts
Definition etwas zerkleinern, durch Kraft in mehrere Stücke zerlegen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Brecht

Where the eye mixes brechen and Brechts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
brechen
7 ch
Brechts

Visual trap between brechen and Brechts

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brechen is [ˈbʁɛçn̩] while Brechts is [bʁɛçt͡s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brechen is recorded at frequency rank #3,876, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁɛçn̩]. Brechts is at rank #39,854, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʁɛçt͡s].

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 43730, this pair ranks #1,408,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brechen vs Brechts

Shared letters: bcehr. Private to "brechen": n. Private to "Brechts": st.

"brechen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Brechts" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brechenbbrechen · berchen · brcehen · brecchen · brecehn · brechenn · brechhen · brechne
  • Brechtsbbrechts · berchts · brcehts · brecchts · brechhts · brechst · brechtss · brechtts

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "brechen" for "Brechts" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "brechen" is a verb and "Brechts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "brechen" or "Brechts" show up more?
"brechen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,876 in our German list, against #39,854 for "Brechts". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "brechen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Brechts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,408,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brechen" and "Brechts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Berichts vs Brechts". 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 #1,408,753 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