brickvsbriqueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“brick” and “brique” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,886
“brick” frequency rank
#10,832
“brique” frequency rank
35718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brick brique
Definition Voilier à deux mâts gréés à voiles carrées et portant des hunes à l’extrémité des bas-mâts. Bloc de pierre artificielle fabriqué avec de la terre argileuse pétrie, moulée, séchée, cuite, et dont on se sert comme matériau de construction. Elle peut être pleine, alvéolée ou creuse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set brick and brique apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
brick
6 ch
brique

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. brick and brique are pronounced identically (\bʁik\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brick is recorded at frequency rank #24,886, classified as anoun, pronounced \bʁik\. brique is at rank #10,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁik\.

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 35718, this pair ranks #274,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brick vs brique

Shared letters: bir. Private to "brick": ck. Private to "brique": equ.

"brick" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "brique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brickbbrick · birck · brcik · bricck · brickk · brikc · brrick · rbick
  • briquebbrique · birque · briqeu · briqque · briuqe · brqiue · brrique · rbique

Frequency comparison

brick#24,886
brique#10,832

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brick" and "brique" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\bʁik\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "brick" or "brique"?
"brique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,832 in our French list, against #24,886 for "brick". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering brick vs brique

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “brick” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list