Ask WordMum: Breath vs Breathe
This month is all about something we do unconsciously and essentially: breathing. Simple, right? So why are there two different spellings? What’s that extra ‘e’ for, anyway?
Let’s take a deep breath and dive in.
Our Question
What’s the difference between breath and breathe?
WordMum Says
This lovely pair is easy to mix up, so let’s see if we can straighten ourselves out and help you breathe easier with them.
The key difference between these two words is that one is a noun while the other is a verb. They also have different pronunciations: the ‘e’ on the end of breathe extends the internal vowel sound (making it sound like breeth), while breath doesn’t have that extra ‘e’ and has a briefer sound (breth).
Breath (noun)
A breath is something you take, inhale, exhale, or hold. It’s short and purposeful (breth). The plural is breaths. The lack of a second ‘e’ means it has that shorter vowel sound and cuts off distinctly at the end.
Breathe (verb, adjective)
To breathe is the act of inhaling and exhaling. It’s a longer, more drawn out word (breeth). It conjugates following the standard rules for verbs that end in ‘e’, which means dropping the ‘e’ when moving to past or present participle (breathed and breathing, respectively). All of the verb forms use the longer double-e vowel sound, though (breeth-d and breeth-ing); it is never breth-d or breth-ing.
The trick is usually remembering to add the ‘e’ when it’s in its to breathe or breathes (present tense) forms.
How to remember which is which
For me, the different sounds of the words is what helps me remember which spelling to use. The lengths of the spoken words also reflect their spelling.
The verb to breathe is a longer, double-e vowel sound, compared to the noun’s shorter ‘eh’ vowel. The double-e sound helps me to remember to put the extra ‘e’ on the end of the verb.
A confusing complication
Using the sound to distinguish between the two words is great… until you get to breather. This has the longer verb sound on the main vowel (breeth) but it’s a noun. It means a break or a rest, and doesn’t actually relate to breathing directly.
So while it has the two ‘e’s like breathe, it’s only used as a noun. A breather is something you have, give, or take, and may represent an opportunity to catch your breath.
Example Time!
So we’ve untangled the different words and got a strategy to use, let’s see it in action.
She took a breath and held it
In this sentence, breath is the object and therefore a thing, not an action. It’s also the it referred to in the second clause. It has the shorter, sharper sound than its verb form, so we don’t want the ‘e’ on the end.
Similarly, if we put the longer word in there, it reads strangely: She took a breathe. So switching it around can help us know which one is correct!
He didn’t dare to breathe
Here we have the verb version in use, because we’re talking about the act of taking a breath (or not, in this case). If we say it out loud, it has the longer double-e sound, so we know to add the ‘e’ on the end.
Again, switching the sound to the shorter one helps us know which one is right, because he didn’t dare to breath doesn’t work. To make it make sense, we would need to add a verb in there: He didn’t dare to take a breath.
The coach gave the team a breather
This is the other noun in play, as this means that the coach is giving their team a short break from training. We take from this that the team will have a short recovery time and then get right back to training! It is a noun, but breth-er isn’t a word, so we read it as the longer double-e sound (breeth-er).
She breathes too quickly until she remembers to count her breaths
In this example, we have both words with an ‘s’ on the end. One has an ‘e’ before the ‘s’, and we read and say that one as a longer word than the one without the extra ‘e’. This gives us: she breeth-ss and her breth-s.
If it helps you, you can switch them out for other verbs and nouns to help you pick out which is which. For example: She dances too quickly until she remembers to count her steps.
I hope that helps you breathe more easily as you use your words! Take a deep breath, you got this.
If you want to catch up on existing posts, check out dedicated page that lists them all for you, in alphabetical order. If this post, or any others, reminded you of similar tricky words you’d like help with, let WordMum know.
Watch this space for more wordy shenanigans next month!