Which to use
“breaches” is a noun and “breathes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,257
- “breaches” frequency rank
- #19,540
- “breathes” frequency rank
- 37797
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | breaches | breathes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of breach | third-person singular simple present indicative of breathe |
Where the eye mixes breaches and breathes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. breaches and breathes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses breaches with breathes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: breaches is /ˈbɹiːt͡ʃɪz/ while breathes is /bɹiːðz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “breaches” becomes t in “breathes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
breaches is recorded at frequency rank #18,257, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɹiːt͡ʃɪz/. breathes is at rank #19,540, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɹiːðz/.
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 37797, this pair ranks #291,425 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of breaches vs breathes
Shared letters: abehrs. Private to "breaches": c. Private to "breathes": t.
"breaches" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC · "breathes" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "breaches" and "breathes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "breaches" or "breathes" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "breaches" and "breathes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "breaches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "breathes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #291,425 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "breaches" and "breathes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bleacher vs breaches". 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 #291,425 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.