Which to use
“Bremse” is a noun and “bremsen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,470
- “Bremse” frequency rank
- #6,520
- “bremsen” frequency rank
- 18990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Bremse | bremsen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vorrichtung, die dazu dient, eine Bewegung zu verlangsamen oder anzuhalten | die Geschwindigkeit, das Tempo verringern, vermindern, verlangsamen |
Where the eye mixes Bremse and bremsen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Bremse runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against bremsen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Bremse with bremsen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Bremse is [ˈbʁɛmzə] while bremsen is [ˈbʁɛmzn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Bremse” sits inside “bremsen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Bremse is recorded at frequency rank #12,470, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁɛmzə]. bremsen is at rank #6,520, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁɛmzn̩].
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 18990, this pair ranks #1,912,886 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Bremse vs bremsen
Shared letters: bemrs. Private to "Bremse": -. Private to "bremsen": n.
"Bremse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "bremsen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Bremse" and "bremsen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Bremse" vs "bremsen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Bremse" and "bremsen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Bremse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bremsen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,912,886 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Bremse" and "bremsen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breeze vs Bremse". 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 #1,912,886 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.