BruchvsBrustWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,401
“Bruch” frequency rank
#3,234
“Brust” frequency rank
9635
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bruch Brust
Definition das körperliche Brechen, Zertrennen eines Gegenstandes; Materials; der Ort des Brechens; ein Auseinandergehen, Trennen im weitesten Sinne von Gegenständen, Materialien, Verbindungen, Zusammenschlüssen vorderer Oberkörper bei Wirbeltieren

Where the eye mixes Bruch and Brust

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Bruch
5 ch
Brust

Visual trap between Bruch and Brust

A purely visual mix-up. Bruch ([bʁʊx]) and Brust ([bʁʊst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9635, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bruch is recorded at frequency rank #6,401, classified as anoun, pronounced [bʁʊx]. Brust is at rank #3,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʁʊst].

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 9635, this pair ranks #1,979,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bruch vs Brust

Shared letters: bru. Private to "Bruch": ch. Private to "Brust": st.

"Bruch" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Brust" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bruchbbruch · brcuh · brruch · brucch · bruchh · bruhc · burch · rbuch
  • Brustbbrust · brrust · brsut · brusst · brustt · bruts · burst · rbust

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bruch" and "Brust" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bʁʊx] versus [bʁʊst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Bruch" or "Brust"?
"Brust" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,234 in our German list, against #6,401 for "Bruch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bruch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Brust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,979,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bruch" and "Brust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bruch vs bryce". 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 #1,979,030 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