bankvsbokWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bank is a noun, bok is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bank” is a noun and “bok” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#705
“bank” frequency rank
#30,339
“bok” frequency rank
31044
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bank bok
Definition An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs. Keen or willing.

Where the eye mixes bank and bok

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

4 ch
bank
3 ch
bok

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bank is /ˈbæŋk/ while bok is /bɑk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bank is recorded at frequency rank #705, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæŋk/. bok is at rank #30,339, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bɑk/.

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 31044, this pair ranks #349,503 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bank vs bok

Shared letters: bk. Private to "bank": an. Private to "bok": o.

"bank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bok" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bankabnk · bakn · bankk · bannk · bbank · bnak

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bank" and "bok" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bank" is a noun and "bok" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bank" or "bok"?
"bank" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #705 in our English list, against #30,339 for "bok". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list