Break vs Brake

“Break” (verb / noun) means to smash or damage something, or a short rest. “Brake” (noun / verb) means the device that slows or stops a vehicle. Break and brake are homophones: they sound exactly the same when spoken, but they are spelled differently and mean completely different things.

Yes, “break” functions as a verb / noun in standard English. To smash or damage something, or a short rest.

Yes, “brake” functions as a noun / verb in standard English. The device that slows or stops a vehicle.

A c​ar’s “brake” contains “ra” for “road” — it stops the car on the road; “break” is the everyday word for smashing or resting.

Here is an example: “Be careful not to break the glass.”

Here is an example: “She pressed the brake as the light turned red.”

Yes. “Break” and “brake” are true homophones — in standard English pronunciation they sound identical, even though the spelling and meaning are completely different. You can only tell them apart from context, not from sound.

A homophone is a word that sounds exactly the same as another word but has a different spelling and a different meaning. The term comes from the Greek 'homo' (same) and 'phone' (sound). See the LexFizz Homophones hub and Glossary entry for more examples.

Yes — homophone pairs like break/brake are a common source of spelling mistakes even for native speakers, because the identical pronunciation gives no clue about which spelling is correct. Spell-checkers often miss these errors too, since both words are spelled correctly — just used in the wrong place.

Practise break and brake in full sentences rather than as an isolated pair, and quiz yourself with LexFizz's Flash Cards and Quiz exercises. Writing a few of your own example sentences for each word is one of the fastest ways to make the distinction automatic.