bentovsbingoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bento” and “bingo” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,328
“bento” frequency rank
#16,076
“bingo” frequency rank
60404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bento bingo
Definition Repas traditionnel japonais disposé dans une boite compartimentée. Jeu de société de chance, où les joueurs doivent remplir une grille de nombre, puis gagnent s’ils sont tirés au sort.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bento and bingo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
bento
5 ch
bingo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bento (\bɛn.to\) and bingo (\biŋ.ɡo\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bento is recorded at frequency rank #44,328, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛn.to\. bingo is at rank #16,076, tagged as anoun, pronounced \biŋ.ɡo\.

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 60404, this pair ranks #97,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bento vs bingo

Shared letters: bno. Private to "bento": et. Private to "bingo": gi.

"bento" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "bingo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bentobbento · bennto · benot · bentto · betno · bneto · ebnto
  • bingobbingo · bigno · binggo · binngo · binog · bnigo · ibngo

Frequency comparison

bento#44,328
bingo#16,076

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bento" and "bingo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bɛn.to\ versus \biŋ.ɡo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bento" or "bingo"?
"bingo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,076 in our French list, against #44,328 for "bento". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bento vs bingo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bento” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list