bockvsboxWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,145
“bock” frequency rank
#4,314
“box” frequency rank
37459
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bock box
Definition Verre à bière de la capacité d’un quart de litre environ dont on se sert dans les brasseries et les cafés. Compartiment disposé dans les écuries ou les étables pour isoler les animaux et les y tenir libres et sans attaches.

Where the eye mixes bock and box

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bock
3 ch
box

Look-alike desk: bock vs box

A purely visual mix-up. bock (\bɔk\) and box (\bɔks\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bock is recorded at frequency rank #33,145, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɔk\. box is at rank #4,314, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɔks\.

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 37459, this pair ranks #262,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bock vs box

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bock": ck. Private to "box": x.

"bock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "box" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bockbbock · bcok · bocck · bockk · bokc · obck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bock" for "box" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\bɔk\ versus \bɔks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "bock" or "box" show up more?
"box" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,314 in our French list, against #33,145 for "bock". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "box" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bock" and "box" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bock vs bold". 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 #262,366 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list