Board or bored?
board is a noun meaning “A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or…”; bored is an adjective meaning “Suffering from boredom; mildly annoyed and restless through having nothing to do”. Use board as a noun and bored as an adjective. They sound the same (/bɔːd/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) board is about 11 times as common as bored.
What is the difference between board and bored?
| board | bored | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | adjective, verb |
| Meaning | A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance | Suffering from boredom; mildly annoyed and restless through having nothing to do Perforated by a hole or holes |
| Example | Each player starts the game with four counters on the board | He was feeling bored so he decided to play Minecraft |
| Forms | boards | boreder, boredest |
| Pronunciation | /bɔːd/ /boːd/ /bɔɹd/ | /bɔːd/ /bɔɹd/ /bo(ː)ɹd/ |
| In writing | 174 times per million words | 16 times per million words |
Sources: board and bored 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 board and bored
board
- 1
A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making
- 2
To step or climb onto or otherwise enter a ship, aircraft, train or other conveyance
It is time to board the aircraft
- 3
informalA rebound
- 4
A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc
- 5
To provide someone with meals and lodging, usually in exchange for money
to board one’s horse at a livery stable
- 6
A flat surface with markings for playing a board game
Each player starts the game with four counters on the board
- 7
To receive meals and lodging in exchange for money
We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house
- 8
Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, message board (on the Internet), bulletin board, etc
bored
- 1
Suffering from boredom; mildly annoyed and restless through having nothing to do
He was feeling bored so he decided to play Minecraft
- 2
Perforated by a hole or holes
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, board or bored?
board appears 174 times per million words; bored 16 times per million words.
board 174 times per million wordsbored 16 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 board vs bored?
“board vs bored” is searched about 1,000 times a month on Google and 40 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“bored vs board”, “board or bored”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.