brosservsbrossesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: brosser is a verb, brosses is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“brosser” is a verb and “brosses” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,068
“brosser” frequency rank
#26,990
“brosses” frequency rank
47058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brosser brosses
Definition Frotter, nettoyer avec une brosse. Pluriel de brosse.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
brosser
7 ch
brosses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brosser is \bʁɔ.se\ while brosses is \bʁɔs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “brosser” becomes s in “brosses”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brosser is recorded at frequency rank #20,068, classified as averb, pronounced \bʁɔ.se\. brosses is at rank #26,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁɔs\.

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 47058, this pair ranks #189,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brosser vs brosses

Shared letters: beors. Private to "brosser": -. Private to "brosses": -.

"brosser" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "brosses" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brosserbbrosser · borsser · broser · brosesr · brosserr · brossre · brrosser · brsoser
  • brossesbbrosses · borsses · brosess · brossess · brossse · brrosses · brsoses · rbosses

Frequency comparison

brosser#20,068
brosses#26,990

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brosser" and "brosses" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "brosser" is a verb and "brosses" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "brosser" or "brosses"?
"brosser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,068 in our French list, against #26,990 for "brosses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering brosser vs brosses

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “brosser”; for a noun, it's “brosses”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “brosser” 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