boisvsBordTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,226
“bois” frequency rank
#2,758
“Bord” frequency rank
29984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bois Bord
Definition Baumaterial, das man aus Bäumen gewinnt: Holz Bücherbrett

Where the eye mixes bois and Bord

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bois
4 ch
Bord

Why the eye confuses bois with Bord

A purely visual mix-up. bois ([bwa]) and Bord ([bɔʁt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bois is recorded at frequency rank #27,226, classified as anoun, pronounced [bwa]. Bord is at rank #2,758, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɔʁt].

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 29984, this pair ranks #1,756,534 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bois vs Bord

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bois": is. Private to "Bord": dr.

"bois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Bord" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • boisbbois · boiss · bosi · obis
  • Bordbbord · bodr · bordd · borrd · brod · obrd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bois" for "Bord" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bwa] versus [bɔʁt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bois" or "Bord"?
"Bord" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,758 in our German list, against #27,226 for "bois". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "bois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bord" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,756,534 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bois" and "Bord" 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 #1,756,534 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