brokenvsbroyéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,499
“broken” frequency rank
#41,163
“broyé” frequency rank
71662
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature broken broyé
Definition Cassé, brisé, rompu, foutu. Qui a été réduit en parcelles, en poudre ou en pâte.

Where the eye mixes broken and broyé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
broken
5 ch
broyé

Look-alike desk: broken vs broyé

A purely visual mix-up. broken (\ˈbɹoʊ.kən\) and broyé (\bʁwa.je\) 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 71662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

broken is recorded at frequency rank #30,499, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈbɹoʊ.kən\. broyé is at rank #41,163, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bʁwa.je\.

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 71662, this pair ranks #46,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of broken vs broyé

Shared letters: bor. Private to "broken": ekn. Private to "broyé": .

"broken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "broyé" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brokenbbroken · borken · brkoen · broekn · brokenn · brokken · brokne · brroken

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "broken" and "broyé" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈbɹoʊ.kən\ versus \bʁwa.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "broken" or "broyé"?
"broken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,499 in our French list, against #41,163 for "broyé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "broken" and "broyé" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "broken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "broyé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "broken" and "broyé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "broad vs broyé". 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 #46,763 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list