breadthvsbreathsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,579
“breadth” frequency rank
#19,772
“breaths” frequency rank
35351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature breadth breaths
Definition The extent or measure of how broad or wide something is; width. plural of breath

Where the eye mixes breadth and breaths

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
breadth
7 ch
breaths

Look-alike desk: breadth vs breaths

A purely visual mix-up. breadth (/bɹɛdθ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35351, 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/. 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 35351, this pair ranks #312,729 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of breadth vs breaths

Shared letters: abehrt. Private to "breadth": d. Private to "breaths": s.

"breadth" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC  ·  "breaths" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • breadthbbreadth · beradth · braedth · breaddth · breadht · breadthh · breadtth · breatdh
  • breathsbbreaths · beraths · braeths · breahts · breathhs · breathss · breatsh · breatths

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "breadth" and "breaths" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bɹɛdθ/ versus /bɹɛθs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "breadth" or "breaths"?
"breadth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,579 in our English list, against #19,772 for "breaths". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "breadth" 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 #312,729 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "breadth" 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 #312,729 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