Which to use
“breathe” and “breathes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,581
- “breathe” frequency rank
- #19,540
- “breathes” frequency rank
- 24121
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | breathe | breathes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. | third-person singular simple present indicative of breathe |
Where the eye mixes breathe and breathes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. breathe runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against breathes's 8 (CCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: breathe vs breathes
A purely visual mix-up. breathe (/bɹiːð/) and breathes (/bɹiːðz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “breathe” sits inside “breathes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
breathe is recorded at frequency rank #4,581, classified as averb, pronounced /bɹiːð/. 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 24121, this pair ranks #404,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of breathe vs breathes
Shared letters: abehrt. Private to "breathe": -. Private to "breathes": s.
"breathe" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "breathes" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "breathe" for "breathes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "breathe" or "breathes"?
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 "breathe" 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 #404,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "breathe" and "breathes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breathes vs breeches". 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 #404,290 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.