Which to use
“brain” and “bran” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,989
- “brain” frequency rank
- #34,907
- “bran” frequency rank
- 61896
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brain | bran |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cerveau, cervelle. | Partie la plus grossière du son de céréale. |
Where the eye mixes brain and bran
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: brain vs bran
A purely visual mix-up. brain (\ˈbreɪn\) and bran (\bʁɑ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brain is recorded at frequency rank #26,989, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈbreɪn\. bran is at rank #34,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁɑ̃\.
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 61896, this pair ranks #89,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of brain vs bran
Shared letters: abnr. Private to "brain": i. Private to "bran": -.
"brain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "bran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brain" for "bran" ever safe?
Which is more common, "brain" or "bran"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "brain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brain" and "bran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bran vs bread". 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 #89,870 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.