Which to use
“brûlées” is an adjective and “bruyères” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,942
- “brûlées” frequency rank
- #34,003
- “bruyères” frequency rank
- 54945
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brûlées | bruyères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de brûlé. | Pluriel de bruyère. |
Where the eye mixes brûlées and bruyères
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. brûlées runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against bruyères's 8 (CCVVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses brûlées with bruyères
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brûlées is \bʁy.le\ while bruyères is \bʁɥi.jɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 54945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brûlées is recorded at frequency rank #20,942, classified as anadj, pronounced \bʁy.le\. bruyères is at rank #34,003, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁɥi.jɛʁ\.
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 54945, this pair ranks #130,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of brûlées vs bruyères
Shared letters: bers. Private to "brûlées": léû. Private to "bruyères": uyè.
"brûlées" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "bruyères" · 8 letters · shape CCVVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "brûlées" and "bruyères" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "brûlées" vs "bruyères" - which ranks higher?
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 "brûlées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bruyères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brûlées" and "bruyères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brûlées vs bulbes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #130,644 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.