Which to use
“blot” and “bout” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,900
- “blot” frequency rank
- #609
- “bout” frequency rank
- 45509
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blot | bout |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument pour mesurer la marche d’un navire (élément du loch). | Partie extrême d’une chose. |
Where the eye mixes blot and bout
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. blot (CCVC) and bout (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: blot vs bout
A purely visual mix-up. blot (\blo\) and bout (\bu\) 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 45509, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blot is recorded at frequency rank #44,900, classified as anoun, pronounced \blo\. bout is at rank #609, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bu\.
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 45509, this pair ranks #202,218 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of blot vs bout
Shared letters: bot. Private to "blot": l. Private to "bout": u.
"blot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "bout" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blot" for "bout" ever safe?
Which is more common, "blot" or "bout"?
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 "blot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bout" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,218 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blot" and "bout" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "below vs blot". 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 #202,218 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.