Which to use
“brun” and “brunes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,320
- “brun” frequency rank
- #14,213
- “brunes” frequency rank
- 19533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brun | brunes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | De la couleur du marron clair tirant sur le noir. #993300 | Féminin pluriel de brun. |
Where the eye mixes brun and brunes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: brun vs brunes
A purely visual mix-up. brun (\bʁœ̃\) and brunes (\bʁyn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “brun” sits inside “brunes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brun is recorded at frequency rank #5,320, classified as anadj, pronounced \bʁœ̃\. brunes is at rank #14,213, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bʁyn\.
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 19533, this pair ranks #372,796 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of brun vs brunes
Shared letters: bnru. Private to "brun": -. Private to "brunes": es.
"brun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "brunes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brun" for "brunes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "brun" vs "brunes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "brun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brunes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,796 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brun" and "brunes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "branles vs brunes". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #372,796 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.