# bright vs brighten

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### bright
*adjective · IPA /bɹaɪt/ · frequency rank #2,427*
Emitting much light; visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, radiant.

### brighten
*verb · IPA /ˈbɹaɪtən/ · frequency rank #20,862*
To make bright or brighter in color.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bright-vs-brighten