Which to use
“breach” and “breaths” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,764
- “breach” frequency rank
- #19,772
- “breaths” frequency rank
- 25536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | breach | breaths |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A gap or opening made by breaking or battering, as in a wall, fortification or levee / embankment; the space between the parts of a solid body rent by violence. | plural of breath |
Where the eye mixes breach and breaths
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. breach runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against breaths's 7 (CCVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: breach vs breaths
A purely visual mix-up. breach (/bɹiːtʃ/) and breaths (/bɹɛθs/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
breach is recorded at frequency rank #5,764, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɹiːtʃ/. breaths is at rank #19,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹɛθs/.
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 25536, this pair ranks #393,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of breach vs breaths
Shared letters: abehr. Private to "breach": c. Private to "breaths": st.
"breach" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "breaths" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "breach" for "breaths" ever safe?
Frequency check: "breach" vs "breaths" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "breach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "breaths" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "breach" and "breaths" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brats vs breaths". 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 #393,546 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.