brennvsbrinkConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#43,778
“brenn” frequency rank
#37,421
“brink” frequency rank
81199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brenn brink
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs brennen Rand, Kante (besonders an einem steil abfallenden Platz, ein Kliff oder eine Schlucht)

Letter map: brenn vs brink

Shared letters muted; letters that set brenn and brink apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. brenn and brink follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
brenn
5 ch
brink

Role in the sentence - brenn and brink

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: brenn is averb and brinkanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brenn is recorded at frequency rank #43,778, classified as averb, pronounced [bʁɛn]. brink is at rank #37,421, tagged as anoun, 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 81199, this pair ranks #180,385 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of brenn vs brink

Shared letters: bnr. Private to "brenn": e. Private to "brink": ik.

"brenn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "brink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brenn ← bbrenn · brnen · brrenn · rbenn
  • brink ← bbrink · birnk · brikn · brinkk · brinnk · brnik · brrink · rbink

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "brenn" and "brink" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "brenn" is a verb and "brink" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "brenn" or "brink" show up more?
"brink" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,421 in our German list, against #43,778 for "brenn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "brenn" vs "brink" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "brenn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,385 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brenn" and "brink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brenn vs Brenz". 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 #180,385 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