box

/bɒks/

//bɒks// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"box" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“box” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #962) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#962
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

Corpus desk

Index EN-box · box · English

box · rank #962 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #962
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH ball

Nearest frequency peer: ball (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “box”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “box” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

box vs by
33% similar
box vs BS
0% similar
box vs br
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for box
PropertyValue
Headwordbox
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɒks/
Letters3
Frequency rank#962
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “box”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).boxlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “ball” (#961), “build” (#963), “truth” (#960). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “box” is #962. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for box is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "BS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bɒks/. Frequency #962 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 36 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for box, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BS", "br", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Ancient Greek πῠ́ξος (pŭ́xos) Ancient Greek -ις (-is) Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís)bor. Late Latin buxisbor. Proto-West Germanic *buhsā Old English box Middle English box English box From Middle English box (“container, box, cup”), from Old Eng… The correct English form is box, spelled B-O-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  2. 2
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  3. 3
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  4. 4
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  5. 5
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  6. 6
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  7. 7
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  8. 8
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  9. 9
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  10. 10
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  11. 11
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  12. 12
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  13. 13
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  14. 14
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  15. 15
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  16. 16
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  17. 17
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  18. 18
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  19. 19
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  20. 20
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  21. 21
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  22. 22
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  23. 23
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  24. 24
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  25. 25
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  26. 26
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  27. 27
    Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
  28. 28
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  29. 29
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  30. 30
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  31. 31
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  32. 32
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  33. 33
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  34. 34
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  35. 35
    Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
  36. 36
    A rectangular object in any number of dimensions.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how box appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. A terrible voice in the hall cried, "Bring down Master Scrooge's box, there!" and in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.
  2. The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek πῠ́ξος (pŭ́xos) Ancient Greek -ις (-is) Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís)bor. Late Latin buxisbor. Proto-West Germanic *buhsā Old English box Middle English box English box From Middle English box (“container, box, cup”), from Old English box (“box, case”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhsā (“box”) from Late Latin buxis (“box”), Latin pyxis (“small box for medicines or toiletries”), of uncertain origin; compare Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís, “box or tablet made of boxwood; box; cylinder”) and πύξος (púxos, “box tree; boxwood”). Doublet of piseog, pyx, and pyxis. Cognate with Middle Dutch bosse, busse (“jar; tin; round box”) (modern Dutch bos (“wood, forest”), bus (“container, box; bushing of a wheel”)), Old High German buhsa (Middle High German buhse, bühse, modern German Büchse (“box; can”)), Swedish bössa (“box”). The humorous plural form boxen is from box + -en, by analogy with oxen. (motor racing): Used since it is more distinct over the radio compared to pit. Also from German Boxenstopp (“pit stop”).

This word in other languages

caja(Español)boîte(Français)Kasten(Deutsch)caixa(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "box"?
"box" is spelled B-O-X. The IPA pronunciation is /bɒks/.
What does "box" mean?
As a noun, "box" means: Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
What words are commonly confused with "box"?
"box" is commonly confused with "by", "BS", "br". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "box"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "box" is /bɒks/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "box"?
Etymology tree Ancient Greek πῠ́ξος (pŭ́xos) Ancient Greek -ις (-is) Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís)bor. Late Latin buxisbor. Proto-West Germanic *buhsā Old English box Middle English box English box From Middle English box (“container, box, cup”), fr... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "box", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ten#959lol#948sir#934sea#933

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list