Which to use
“brûler” is a verb and “brûlure” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,635
- “brûler” frequency rank
- #21,260
- “brûlure” frequency rank
- 26895
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brûler | brûlure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Consumer, corroder ou endommager par le feu, ou par produits chimiques. | 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 brûler and brûlure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. brûler runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against brûlure's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between brûler and brûlure
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brûler is \bʁy.le\ while brûlure is \bʁy.lyʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26895, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brûler is recorded at frequency rank #5,635, classified as averb, 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 26895, this pair ranks #332,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of brûler vs brûlure
Shared letters: belrû. Private to "brûler": -. Private to "brûlure": u.
"brûler" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "brûlure" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brûler" for "brûlure" ever safe?
Frequency check: "brûler" vs "brûlure" - which ranks higher?
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 "brûler" 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 #332,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brûler" and "brûlure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brider vs brûler". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #332,193 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.