branvsbreuTell them apart

Which to use

“bran” and “breu” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,613
“bran” frequency rank
#37,209
“breu” frequency rank
66822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bran breu
Definition farelo. sólido escuro, inflamável, obtido a partir de secreções resinosas de várias plantas, especialmente de coníferas (Pinus palustris etc.), ou da destilação do alcatrão; breu de colofônia, colofônia, colofônio [O breu é usado em adesivos, vernizes, isolantes, revestimentos etc., e também em plásticos e na fabricação de papel (engomagem)]

Letter map: bran vs breu

Shared letters muted; letters that set bran and breu apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. bran (CCVC) and breu (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
bran
4 ch
breu

Corpus notes: bran and breu

bran and breu are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bran is recorded at frequency rank #29,613, classified as anoun, pronounced /bræn/. breu is at rank #37,209, tagged as anoun.

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 66822, this pair ranks #4,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bran vs breu

Shared letters: br. Private to "bran": an. Private to "breu": eu.

"bran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "breu" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bran ← barn · bbran · brann · brna · brran · rban
  • breu ← bbreu · beru · brreu · brue · rbeu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bran" for "breu" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "bran" vs "breu" - which ranks higher?
"bran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,613 in our Portuguese list, against #37,209 for "breu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "bran" and "breu". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "breu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bran" and "breu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breu vs bué". 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 #4,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list