briquevsbriquetWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,832
“brique” frequency rank
#19,768
“briquet” frequency rank
30600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brique briquet
Definition 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. Petite pièce d’acier dont on se servait pour tirer du feu d’un silex.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set brique and briquet apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
brique
7 ch
briquet

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. brique (\bʁik\) and briquet (\bʁi.kɛ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “brique” sits inside “briquet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brique is recorded at frequency rank #10,832, classified as anoun, pronounced \bʁik\. briquet is at rank #19,768, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁi.kɛ\.

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 30600, this pair ranks #309,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brique vs briquet

Shared letters: beiqru. Private to "brique": -. Private to "briquet": t.

"brique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "briquet" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • briquebbrique · birque · briqeu · briqque · briuqe · brqiue · brrique · rbique
  • briquetbbriquet · birquet · briqeut · briqquet · briquett · briqute · briuqet · brqiuet

Frequency comparison

brique#10,832
briquet#19,768

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brique" and "briquet" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bʁik\ versus \bʁi.kɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "brique" or "briquet"?
"brique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,832 in our French list, against #19,768 for "briquet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering brique vs briquet

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 “brique” 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