Which to use
“breadth” and “breath” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,579
- “breadth” frequency rank
- #2,880
- “breath” frequency rank
- 18459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | breadth | breath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The extent or measure of how broad or wide something is; width. | The act or process of breathing. |
Where the eye mixes breadth and breath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: breadth vs breath
A purely visual mix-up. breadth (/bɹɛdθ/) and breath (/bɹɛθ/) 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 18459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
breadth is recorded at frequency rank #15,579, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɹɛdθ/. breath is at rank #2,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹɛθ/.
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 18459, this pair ranks #444,771 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of breadth vs breath
Shared letters: abehrt. Private to "breadth": d. Private to "breath": -.
"breadth" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC · "breath" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "breadth" for "breath" ever safe?
Which is more common, "breadth" or "breath"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "breadth" and "breath" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "breadth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "breath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #444,771 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "breadth" and "breath" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breath vs broach". 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 #444,771 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.