Do you brake or break the eggs? Is bread or bred served with dinner? Do you breath or breathe to stay alive? When you ride a horse, do you put a bridal or a bridle on it? Would you brows or browse through the selection of books in a library?
brake, break
A brake is a device that is used to make vehicles stop.
The right brake on the car needs to be fixed.
To break means to separate into parts with force or violence.
Be careful not to break the eggs!
breach, breech
A breach is a violation of the law, a break in relations that have been friendly, or a leap of a water animal (such as a whale or dolphin) out of the water.
The attack was a breach of the treaty.
When a baby is born breech, it is born bottom first.
The doctor was not comfortable allowing the baby to be born breech, so he performed a cesarean.
bread, bred
Bread is a baked, leavened food made of a mixture of which the main part is flour or meal.
The baking bread filled the house with an enticing smell.
Bred is a verb which means generated or brought forth.
Her prize-winning dogs had bred many beautiful puppies over the years.
breath, breathe
Breath is life. It is the air we breathe in order to stay alive.
She held her breath and hoped that the intruder would not discover her presence in the room.
When you breathe you take oxygen into your lungs, then expel it.
The characters she created breathed hydrogen instead of oxygen.
brewed, brood
Brewed is commonly used to refer to the preparation of beer; it means fermented.
Todd tasted of the beer that had brewed for four weeks.
A brood is the young of an animal or human family.
Mrs. Jenkins took her brood of twelve children to a restaurant once every six months.
brews, bruise
If you have more than one beer, you have two or more brews.
Since he needed to be able to drive, Johnny drank only two brews.
A bruise is a discolored part on one’s skin caused by an injury from a fall or blow.
A bruise was the only injury Jenny received from her car wreck.
bridal, bridle
Bridal refers to one or more brides or something that pertains to brides.
The new bridal boutique on the corner quickly gained customers.
A bridle is part of the headgear that is used to control the movements of a horse.
Jason received a beautiful new bridle for his horse on his birthday.
Britain, Briton
Britain is the short way of saying Great Britain, a European country.
I lived in Britain for two years.
A Briton is someone who lives in or is a native of Great Britain.
William Shakespeare is a famous Briton.
broach, brooch
Someone will broach, or bring up, a subject when he mentions it for the very first time.
No one seemed to be willing to broach the subject of their financial situation.
A brooch is an ornament with a pin on the back so it can be inserted through the cloth of a shirt.
Her grandmother’s brooch was definitely an antique, dating all the way back to the family of the first president.
brows, browse
Brows are the edges of steep places, such as hills or cliffs.
Daniel traveled to several brows that day in an attempt to find the perfect place to take off in his glider.
Browse is a verb that means to look through or skim over casually.
If not in a hurry, Sheila would browse through the selection of movies for hours before choosing which one to rent.
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