bravsburkaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“bra” and “burka” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,898
“bra” frequency rank
#47,509
“burka” frequency rank
56407
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bra burka
Definition An item of clothing, usually underwear worn to support the breasts. Alternative form of burqa.

Where the eye mixes bra and burka

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

3 ch
bra
5 ch
burka

Look-alike desk: bra vs burka

A purely visual mix-up. bra (/bɹɑː/) and burka (/ˈbɝkə/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bra is recorded at frequency rank #8,898, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɹɑː/. burka is at rank #47,509, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɝkə/.

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 56407, this pair ranks #126,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bra vs burka

Shared letters: abr. Private to "bra": -. Private to "burka": ku.

"bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "burka" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • burkabburka · bruka · bukra · burak · burkka · burrka · ubrka

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bra" and "burka" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bɹɑː/ versus /ˈbɝkə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bra" or "burka"?
"bra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,898 in our English list, against #47,509 for "burka". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "burka" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bra" and "burka" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bara vs burka". 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 #126,539 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list