bras

\bʁa\

/\bʁa\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“bras” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #785) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#785
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Partie du membre supérieur des humains (et des bipèdes en général) qui s’étend depuis l’épaule (qui la relie au tronc) jusqu’au coude (qui la relie à l’avant-bras).

Corpus desk

Index FR-bras · bras · French

bras · rank #785 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #785
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH attendre

Nearest frequency peer: attendre (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “bras”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “bras” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bras vs BS
0% similar
bras vs bus
50% similar
bras vs BTS
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bras
PropertyValue
Headwordbras
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bʁa\
Letters4
Frequency rank#785
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “bras” se place dans la fréquence du français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).brasse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « attendre » (#784), « charge » (#786), « Afrique » (#783). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bras is neighbouring look-alikes ("BS", "bus", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \bʁa\. Frequency #785 among 4,251 “B” headwords. 10 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bras, with forms such as "bbras", "brras", and "brsa". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "BS", "bus", "BTS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is bras, spelled B-R-A-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Partie du membre supérieur des humains (et des bipèdes en général) qui s’étend depuis l’épaule (qui la relie au tronc) jusqu’au coude (qui la relie à l’avant-bras).
  2. 2
    Membre supérieur des humains et autres bipèdes.
  3. 3
    Objet qui ressemble ou qui tient le bras.
  4. 4
    Brimbale.
  5. 5
    Personne pour accomplir une tâche manuelle.
  6. 6
    (Suivi d'un adjectif ou d'un complément de nom caractérisant la nature du pouvoir en cause) Instrument (d'une entité plus grande) jouant un rôle concret dans un domaine particulier.
  7. 7
    Subdivision latérale d’un fleuve ou d’une rivière qu’une île sépare de son cours principal.
  8. 8
    Ramification s’écartant du tronc d’un arbre en espalier ou d’un cep de vigne.
  9. 9
    Cordage situé au vent qui permet de régler l’écartement d’une voile d’avant.
  10. 10
    Meuble représentant un bras tendu ou simplement un avant-bras et une main dans les armoiries. Il est utilisé lorsqu’il n’est pas nécessaire de préciser si on a affaire à un bras droit ou gauche. À rapprocher de dextrochère, main et senestrochère ou sénestrochère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bras appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le forgeron qui doit battre le fer a la partie supérieure de son corps et les muscles des bras très-développés.
  2. En sabots, les manches relevées sur leurs bras blancs, les filles balayaient le devant des boutiques.

Synonyms

arrière-brasbradillonbrandillon

This word in other languages

arm(English)brazo(Español)Arm(Deutsch)braço(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbras
  • brras
  • brsa
  • rbas

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bras - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bbras1brras1brsa2rbas2
Edit distance from "bras"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bras"?
"bras" is spelled B-R-A-S. The IPA pronunciation is \bʁa\.
What does "bras" mean?
As a noun, "bras" means: Partie du membre supérieur des humains (et des bipèdes en général) qui s’étend depuis l’épaule (qui la relie au tronc) jusqu’au coude (qui la relie à l’avant-bras).
What words are commonly confused with "bras"?
"bras" is commonly confused with "BS", "bus", "BTS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bras"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bras" is \bʁa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bras" come from?
"bras" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bras", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fini#789voie#781taux#779reçu#813

What to do next

You've looked up "bras". Here's where to go from here.

  • "bras" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "BS". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #785 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list