boresvsbreeTell them apart

Which to use

“bores” and “bree” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,207
“bores” frequency rank
#24,998
“bree” frequency rank
60205
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bores bree
Definition plural of bore The eyelid.

Where the eye mixes bores and bree

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bores
4 ch
bree

Look-alike desk: bores vs bree

A purely visual mix-up. bores (/bɔɹz/) and bree (/bɹiː/) 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 60205, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bores is recorded at frequency rank #35,207, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɔɹz/. bree is at rank #24,998, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹiː/.

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 60205, this pair ranks #101,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bores vs bree

Shared letters: ber. Private to "bores": os. Private to "bree": -.

"bores" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bree" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • boresbbores · boress · borres · borse · broes · obres
  • breebbree · bre · brree · rbee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bores" for "bree" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bɔɹz/ versus /bɹiː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bores" vs "bree" - which ranks higher?
"bree" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,998 in our English list, against #35,207 for "bores". 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 "bores" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bree" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bores" and "bree" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes vs bores". 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 #101,615 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list