brutal

[bʁuˈtaːl]

/[bʁuˈtaːl]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“brutal” has 9 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #7,022. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,022
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - dazu neigen, rücksichtslos, übermäßig, unangebracht und oft unbeherrscht gewalttätig, verletzend oder quälerisch zu sein, meist ohne Reue oder Skrupel.

Corpus desk

Index DE-brutal · brutal · German

brutal · rank #7,022 · 9 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,022
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH braune

Nearest frequency peer: braune (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „brutal“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „brutal“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

brutal vs brutto
67% similar
brutal vs brüten
50% similar
brutal vs brutale
86% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for brutal
PropertyValue
Headwordbrutal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[bʁuˈtaːl]
Letters6
Frequency rank#7,022
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „brutal“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.brutalliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „braune“ (#7,021), „Bär“ (#7,023), „Boten“ (#7,020). Unter 5,818 „B“-Lemmata liegt „brutal“ bei #7,022. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around brutal (IPA [bʁuˈtaːl]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #7,022 among 5,818 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for brutal, with forms such as "bbrutal", "brrutal", and "brtual". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "brutto", "brüten", "brutale", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is brutal, spelled B-R-U-T-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    dazu neigen, rücksichtslos, übermäßig, unangebracht und oft unbeherrscht gewalttätig, verletzend oder quälerisch zu sein, meist ohne Reue oder Skrupel.
  2. 2
    rücksichtslos, übermäßig und unangebracht gewalttätig, verletzend und quälerisch

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how brutal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Er war schon immer ein brutaler Mensch.
  2. „Viele Szenen der aufgefundenen Drehbuchfassung zeigen das brutale Verhalten weißer Großgrundbesitzer Sklaven gegenüber, unter anderem Schläge und emotionale Gewalt.“

Synonyms

grobgewalttätigerbarmungslosderbrücksichtslosschonungslosbarbarischbestialischunmenschlichgewaltsamwildgrausamzügellosrohgrobgewalttätigerbarmungslosderbrücksichtslosschonungslosbarbarischbestialischunmenschlichgewaltsamwildgrausam

Antonyms

freundlichsanftmütigmitfühlendeinfühlsamfreundlichsanftvorsichtigbehutsam

This word in other languages

brutal(English)brutale(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbrutal
  • brrutal
  • brtual
  • bruatl
  • brutall
  • brutla
  • bruttal
  • burtal
  • rbutal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of brutal - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bbrutal1brrutal1brtual2bruatl2brutall1brutla2bruttal1burtal2
Edit distance from "brutal"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "brutal"?
"brutal" is spelled B-R-U-T-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [bʁuˈtaːl].
What does "brutal" mean?
As an adjective, "brutal" means: dazu neigen, rücksichtslos, übermäßig, unangebracht und oft unbeherrscht gewalttätig, verletzend oder quälerisch zu sein, meist ohne Reue oder Skrupel.
What words are commonly confused with "brutal"?
"brutal" is commonly confused with "brutto", "brüten", "brutale". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "brutal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "brutal" is [bʁuˈtaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "brutal" come from?
"brutal" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "brutal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

braune#7,021Bienen#7,019Christ#7,025berufe#7,016

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Dörfer9 variantsEinkauf9 variantsFrance9 variantsJustin9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list