BoxvsBrotTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,642
“Box” frequency rank
#2,585
“Brot” frequency rank
6227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Box Brot
Definition Behältnis, Verpackung, meistens in der Form eines Quaders aus hauptsächlich Mehl, Wasser und Salz gebackenes Nahrungsmittel

Where the eye mixes Box and Brot

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

3 ch
Box
4 ch
Brot

Visual trap between Box and Brot

A purely visual mix-up. Box ([bɔks]) and Brot ([bʁoːt]) 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 6227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Box is recorded at frequency rank #3,642, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɔks]. Brot is at rank #2,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʁoːt].

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 6227, this pair ranks #1,992,312 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Box vs Brot

Shared letters: bo. Private to "Box": x. Private to "Brot": rt.

"Box" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Brot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Brotbbrot · bort · brott · brrot · brto · rbot

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Box" for "Brot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bɔks] versus [bʁoːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Box" or "Brot" show up more?
"Brot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,585 in our German list, against #3,642 for "Box". 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 "Box" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Brot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,312 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Box" and "Brot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bic vs Box". 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 #1,992,312 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