Which to use
“brûlé” is an adjective and “brûlure” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,533
- “brûlé” frequency rank
- #21,260
- “brûlure” frequency rank
- 28793
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brûlé | brûlure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a été soumis à l’action du feu, a subi une brûlure. | Impression qu'un corps très chaud ou très froid, une substance corrosive ou caustique, un frottement, un rayonnement ou encore un courant électrique font sur la peau ou sur quelque autre matière et qui va jusqu’à les altérer ou même jusqu’à les détruire partiellement. |
Where the eye mixes brûlé and brûlure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. brûlé runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against brûlure's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between brûlé and brûlure
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brûlé is \bʁy.le\ while brûlure is \bʁy.lyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brûlé is recorded at frequency rank #7,533, classified as anadj, pronounced \bʁy.le\. brûlure is at rank #21,260, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁy.lyʁ\.
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 28793, this pair ranks #320,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of brûlé vs brûlure
Shared letters: blrû. Private to "brûlé": é. Private to "brûlure": eu.
"brûlé" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "brûlure" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brûlé" for "brûlure" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "brûlé" or "brûlure" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "brûlé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brûlure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brûlé" and "brûlure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brûlé vs bue". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #320,687 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.