Which to use
“bras” and “bray” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #785
- “bras” frequency rank
- #27,349
- “bray” frequency rank
- 28134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bras | bray |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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). | Braiment d’un âne. |
Where the eye mixes bras and bray
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bras with bray
A purely visual mix-up. bras (\bʁa\) and bray (\breɪ\) 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 a single letter - s in “bras” becomes y in “bray”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bras is recorded at frequency rank #785, classified as anoun, pronounced \bʁa\. bray is at rank #27,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced \breɪ\.
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 28134, this pair ranks #324,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bras vs bray
Shared letters: abr. Private to "bras": s. Private to "bray": y.
"bras" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "bray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bras" for "bray" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bras" vs "bray" - which ranks higher?
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 "bras" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bras" and "bray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bray vs bury". 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 #324,708 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.