Boar or bore?
boar is a noun meaning “A wild boar (Sus scrofa), the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig”; bore is a verb meaning “To inspire boredom in somebody”. Use boar as a noun and bore as a verb (bore is also a noun: “A hole drilled, bored, or milled through something”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) bore is about 4.3 times as common as boar.
What is the difference between boar and bore?
| boar | bore | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | verb, noun |
| Meaning | A wild boar (Sus scrofa), the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig A male pig | To inspire boredom in somebody To make a hole through something A hole drilled, bored, or milled through something |
| Example | none recorded | to bore someone to death |
| Forms | boars | bores, boring, bored |
| Pronunciation | /bɔː(ɹ)/ /boɹ/ /bo(ː)ɹ/ | /bɔː/ /boɹ/ /bo(ː)ɹ/ |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words | 8.5 times per million words |
Sources: boar and bore in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of boar and bore
boar
- 1
A wild boar (Sus scrofa), the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig
- 2
A male pig
- 3
A male boar (sense 1)
- 4
A male bear
- 5
A male guinea pig
bore
- 1
To inspire boredom in somebody
to bore someone to death
- 2
A hole drilled, bored, or milled through something
the bore of a cannon
- 3
A sudden and rapid flow of tide occurring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up as a wave
- 4
To make a hole through something
- 5
AustraliaA borehole sunk into an artesian basin to provide a source of water
- 6
To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool
to bore for water or oil
- 7
The diameter of such a hole
- 8
To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus
to bore a steam cylinder or a gun barrel; to bore a hole
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, boar or bore?
boar appears 2.0 times per million words; bore 8.5 times per million words.
boar 2.0 times per million wordsbore 8.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search boar vs bore?
“boar vs bore” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“bore vs boar”, “boar or bore”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.