brokenvsBrückenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: broken is a adjective, Brücken is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“broken” is an adjective and “Brücken” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,482
“broken” frequency rank
#5,464
“Brücken” frequency rank
30946
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature broken Brücken
Definition zerbrochen, kaputt, defekt, beschädigt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Brücke

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set broken and Brücken apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
broken
7 ch
Brücken

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: broken is [ˈbrəʊkən] while Brücken is [ˈbʁʏkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

broken is recorded at frequency rank #25,482, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbrəʊkən]. Brücken is at rank #5,464, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁʏkn̩].

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 30946, this pair ranks #1,737,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of broken vs Brücken

Shared letters: beknr. Private to "broken": o. Private to "Brücken": .

"broken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Brücken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brokenbbroken · brkoen · broekn · brokenn · brokken · brokne · brroken · rboken

Frequency comparison

broken#25,482
Brücken#5,464

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "broken" and "Brücken" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "broken" is an adjective and "Brücken" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "broken" or "Brücken"?
"Brücken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,464 in our German list, against #25,482 for "broken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering broken vs Brücken

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “broken”; for a noun, it's “Brücken”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “broken” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list