Which to use
“breath” and “breech” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,880
- “breath” frequency rank
- #32,302
- “breech” frequency rank
- 35182
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | breath | breech |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act or process of breathing. | A garment whose purpose is to cover or clothe the buttocks. |
Where the eye mixes breath and breech
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. breath and breech follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses breath with breech
A purely visual mix-up. breath (/bɹɛθ/) and breech (/bɹiːt͡ʃ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
breath is recorded at frequency rank #2,880, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɹɛθ/. breech is at rank #32,302, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹiːt͡ʃ/.
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 35182, this pair ranks #314,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of breath vs breech
Shared letters: behr. Private to "breath": at. Private to "breech": c.
"breath" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "breech" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "breath" for "breech" ever safe?
Frequency check: "breath" vs "breech" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "breath" and "breech" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "breath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "breech" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "breath" and "breech" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breech 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 #314,201 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.