BasisvsboisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Basis” and “bois” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,345
“Basis” frequency rank
#27,226
“bois” frequency rank
28571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Basis bois
Definition Grundlage Baumaterial, das man aus Bäumen gewinnt: Holz

Where the eye mixes Basis and bois

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Basis
4 ch
bois

Visual trap between Basis and bois

A purely visual mix-up. Basis ([ˈbaːzɪs]) and bois ([bwa]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Basis is recorded at frequency rank #1,345, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaːzɪs]. bois is at rank #27,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bwa].

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 28571, this pair ranks #1,782,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Basis vs bois

Shared letters: bis. Private to "Basis": a. Private to "bois": o.

"Basis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Basisabsis · baiss · basiss · bassi · bassis · bbasis · bsais
  • boisbbois · boiss · bosi · obis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Basis" and "bois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbaːzɪs] versus [bwa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Basis" vs "bois" - which ranks higher?
"Basis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,345 in our German list, against #27,226 for "bois". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Basis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,782,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Basis" and "bois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bims vs bois". 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 #1,782,416 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list