bois

/\bwɑ\/ noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#576

in French word usage

Misspellings

4

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

bois is aFrenchnoun. It means: Substance dure et fibreuse des arbres. Pronounced \bwɑ\. It ranks #576 in French word frequency. Often confused with BS and bon.

Key facts for bois
PropertyValue
Headwordbois
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bwɑ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#576
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bois in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for bois is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bwɑ\. Corpus data places it at rank #576 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for bois, with forms such as "bbois", "boiss", and "bosi". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "BS", "bon", "bus", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is bois, spelled B-O-I-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Substance dure et fibreuse des arbres.
  2. 2
    Objet construit dans cette matière.
  3. 3
    Ensemble d’arbres assez proches, délimité par une lisière.
  4. 4
    Famille d’instruments à vent de matières très variées (bois, métal, plastique, terre cuite, os, ivoire, cristal, etc.) et dont le son n'est pas produit par la vibration des lèvres de l'instrumentiste, et comprenant : Les flûtes (vibration de l’air sur un biseau) Les hautbois (vibration d’une anche double) Les clarinettes (vibration d'une anche simple)
  5. 5
    Une section d'orchestre ou un groupe de musiciens qui jouent les instruments de ce type.
  6. 6
    Organe osseux des cervidés qui pousse sur leurs têtes.
  7. 7
    Menues branches, des rejetons que les arbres poussent chaque année.
  8. 8
    Gravure sur bois.
  9. 9
    Club de golf à tête arrondie, utilisé pour frapper la balle à grande distance.
  10. 10
    La forêt en général.
  11. 11
    Coque.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bbois,boiss,bosi,obis

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bois

Misspelling Variants of "bois"

bbois5boiss5bosi4obis4
Misspelling Variants of "bois"

Frequency rank: #576 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bois"?
"bois" is spelled B-O-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \bwɑ\.
What does "bois" mean?
As a noun, "bois" means: Substance dure et fibreuse des arbres.
What words are commonly confused with "bois"?
"bois" is commonly confused with "BS", "bon", "bus". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bois"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bois" is \bwɑ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bois" come from?
"bois" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.