Which to use
“breathe” is a verb and “breaths” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,581
- “breathe” frequency rank
- #19,772
- “breaths” frequency rank
- 24353
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | breathe | breaths |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. | plural of breath |
Where the eye mixes breathe and breaths
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. breathe (CCVVCCV) and breaths (CCVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: breathe vs breaths
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: breathe is /bɹiːð/ while breaths is /bɹɛθs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “breathe” becomes s in “breaths”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24353, 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/. 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 24353, this pair ranks #402,573 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of breathe vs breaths
Shared letters: abehrt. Private to "breathe": -. Private to "breaths": s.
"breathe" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "breaths" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "breathe" for "breaths" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "breathe" or "breaths" show up more?
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 "breaths" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,573 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "breathe" 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 #402,573 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.