BriefevsBriefesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,105
“Briefe” frequency rank
#31,481
“Briefes” frequency rank
35586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Briefe Briefes
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Brief Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Brief

Where the eye mixes Briefe and Briefes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Briefe
7 ch
Briefes

Why the eye confuses Briefe with Briefes

A purely visual mix-up. Briefe ([ˈbʁiːfə]) and Briefes ([ˈbʁiːfəs]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “Briefe” sits inside “Briefes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Briefe is recorded at frequency rank #4,105, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁiːfə]. Briefes is at rank #31,481, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁiːfəs].

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 35586, this pair ranks #1,636,445 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Briefe vs Briefes

Shared letters: befir. Private to "Briefe": -. Private to "Briefes": s.

"Briefe" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Briefes" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Briefebbriefe · birefe · breife · brieef · brieffe · brifee · brriefe · rbiefe
  • Briefesbbriefes · birefes · breifes · brieefs · briefess · brieffes · briefse · brifees

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Briefe" for "Briefes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbʁiːfə] versus [ˈbʁiːfəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Briefe" vs "Briefes" - which ranks higher?
"Briefe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,105 in our German list, against #31,481 for "Briefes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Briefe" and "Briefes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Briefe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Briefes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,636,445 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Briefe" and "Briefes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bridges vs Briefes". 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 #1,636,445 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