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PlainSpell

brake

/bɹeɪk/noun, verb

brake is spelled B-R-A-K-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “brake vs break” about 8,100 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, brake means “A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brake is brakes.

How many letters and syllables are in brake?

Letters5: B-R-A-K-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is brake?

Brake appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce brake?

  • /bɹeɪk/

Brake has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-brake.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with brake

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

brake vs break8,100 G

Sounds like: break (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with brake?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as brake.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: break, baker.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of brake

  • brakes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • break rare
  • braking participle, present
  • braked participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does brake mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.

    She slammed the brakes when she saw a child run in front of the car.

  2. 2

    The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle

    Give the car a quick brake.

  3. 3

    An apparatus for testing the power of a steam engine or other motor by weighing the amount of friction that the motor will overcome; a friction brake.

  4. 4

    Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.

  5. 5

    An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.

  6. 6

    obsoleteThe winch of a crossbow.

  7. 7

    The handle of a pump.

  8. 8

    A baker’s kneading trough.

  9. 9

    Any fern in the genus Pteris.

  10. 10

    Bracken (Pteridium spp.).

  11. 11

    A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.

  12. 12

    A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)

  13. 13

    A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth after ploughing; a drag.

  14. 14

    A tool used for breaking flax or hemp.

  15. 15

    obsoleteA cage.

  16. 16

    A type of torture instrument.

verb

  1. 1

    To operate a brake or brakes.

  2. 2

    To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.

  3. 3

    To bruise and crush; to knead.

    The farmer’s son brakes the flax while mother brakes the bread dough

  4. 4

    To pulverise with a harrow.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Brake in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfrein (device used to slow or stop a vehicle), bringuebale (nautical: handle of pump), freiner (to operate brakes), broie, brisoir (tool for crushing and beating flax or hemp), plieuse (type of machine for bending sheet metal)
GermanBremse (device used to slow or stop a vehicle), Geckstock, Geck, Pumpengeck, Pumpenschwengel (nautical: handle of pump), bremsen (to operate brakes)
Portuguesefreio, travão (device used to slow or stop a vehicle), embalete (nautical: handle of pump), freiar, travar (to operate brakes)
Spanishfreno, arretranca, breque (device used to slow or stop a vehicle), guimbalete (nautical: handle of pump), frenar, enfrenar (to operate brakes)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does brake come from?

Origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German brake (“nose ring, curb, flax brake”), which according to Watkins is related to sense 4 and from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after brake