both

/\ˈboʊθ\/ conj

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#34,438

in French word usage

Misspellings

6

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

both is aFrenchconj. It means: À la fois, en même temps. Pronounced \ˈboʊθ\. Often confused with BT and but.

Key facts for both
PropertyValue
Headwordboth
LanguageFrench
Part of speechConj
IPA\ˈboʊθ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#34,438
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for both is 4 letters long, classified as aconj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˈboʊθ\. Corpus data places it at rank #34,438 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "À la fois, en même temps.".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for both, with forms such as "bboth", "boht", and "bothh". 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, "BT", "but", "box", 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 both, spelled B-O-T-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    À la fois, en même temps.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bboth,boht,bothh,botth,btoh,obth

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for both

Misspelling Variants of "both"

bboth5boht4bothh5botth5btoh4obth4
Misspelling Variants of "both"

Frequency rank: #34,438 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "both"?
"both" is spelled B-O-T-H. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈboʊθ\.
What does "both" mean?
As a conj, "both" means: À la fois, en même temps.
What words are commonly confused with "both"?
"both" is commonly confused with "BT", "but", "box". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "both"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "both" is \ˈboʊθ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "both" come from?
"both" 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.