broyévsbrûléTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,163
“broyé” frequency rank
#7,533
“brûlé” frequency rank
48696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature broyé brûlé
Definition Qui a été réduit en parcelles, en poudre ou en pâte. Qui a été soumis à l’action du feu, a subi une brûlure.

Where the eye mixes broyé and brûlé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. broyé (CCVVV) and brûlé (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
broyé
5 ch
brûlé

Look-alike desk: broyé vs brûlé

A purely visual mix-up. broyé (\bʁwa.je\) and brûlé (\bʁy.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

broyé is recorded at frequency rank #41,163, classified as anadj, pronounced \bʁwa.je\. brûlé is at rank #7,533, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bʁy.le\.

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 48696, this pair ranks #176,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of broyé vs brûlé

Shared letters: bré. Private to "broyé": oy. Private to "brûlé": .

"broyé" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV  ·  "brûlé" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "broyé" and "brûlé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bʁwa.je\ versus \bʁy.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "broyé" vs "brûlé" - which ranks higher?
"brûlé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,533 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "broyé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brûlé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "broyé" and "brûlé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "broad vs broyé". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #176,762 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