breitvsbreitesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,332
“breit” frequency rank
#10,829
“breites” frequency rank
13161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature breit breites
Definition horizontal seitlich ausgedehnt (in Links-Rechts-Richtung) Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs breit

Where the eye mixes breit and breites

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

5 ch
breit
7 ch
breites

Why the eye confuses breit with breites

A purely visual mix-up. breit ([bʁaɪ̯t]) and breites ([ˈbʁaɪ̯təs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “breit” sits inside “breites”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

breit is recorded at frequency rank #2,332, classified as anadj, pronounced [bʁaɪ̯t]. breites is at rank #10,829, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʁaɪ̯təs].

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 13161, this pair ranks #1,959,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of breit vs breites

Shared letters: beirt. Private to "breit": -. Private to "breites": s.

"breit" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "breites" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • breitbbreit · berit · breitt · breti · briet · brreit · rbeit
  • breitesbbreites · berites · breiets · breitess · breitse · breittes · breties · brietes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "breit" for "breites" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bʁaɪ̯t] versus [ˈbʁaɪ̯təs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "breit" vs "breites" - which ranks higher?
"breit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,332 in our German list, against #10,829 for "breites". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "breit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "breites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "breit" and "breites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bettes vs breites". 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 #1,959,736 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