BriefenvsBriefesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,879
“Briefen” frequency rank
#31,481
“Briefes” frequency rank
44360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Briefen Briefes
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Brief Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Brief

Where the eye mixes Briefen and Briefes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Briefen and Briefes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Briefen
7 ch
Briefes

Look-alike desk: Briefen vs Briefes

A purely visual mix-up. Briefen ([ˈbʁiːfn̩]) 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 a single letter - n in “Briefen” becomes s in “Briefes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Briefen is recorded at frequency rank #12,879, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁiːfn̩]. 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 44360, this pair ranks #1,388,718 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Briefen vs Briefes

Shared letters: befir. Private to "Briefen": n. Private to "Briefes": s.

"Briefen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "Briefes" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Briefen ← bbriefen · birefen · breifen · brieefn · briefenn · brieffen · briefne · brifeen
  • Briefes ← bbriefes · birefes · breifes · brieefs · briefess · brieffes · briefse · brifees

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Briefen" and "Briefes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbʁiːfn̩] versus [ˈbʁiːfəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Briefen" vs "Briefes" - which ranks higher?
"Briefen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,879 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Briefen" 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 #1,388,718 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Briefen" 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 #1,388,718 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