English homophones
brake/break
"brake" is a noun; "break" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "brake" arrives as a noun, while "break" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "br" then splits - "brake" (5 letters) vs "break" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across brake, break: abekr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
brake
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVCV
Inventory abekr · no private letters vs siblings
break
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVVC
Inventory abekr · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "brake" when you mean: A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as elect…
- Write "break" when you mean: To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
noun · /bɹeɪk/ · #7,655 frequency
A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.
verb · /bɹeɪk/ · #670 frequency
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (brake, break). Here's where to go from here.
- "break" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #670 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: butte · beaut. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.