Which to use
“boire” and “boit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,984
- “boire” frequency rank
- #7,791
- “boit” frequency rank
- 9775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boire | boit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mettre un liquide dans sa bouche et l’avaler. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe boire. |
Where the eye mixes boire and boit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses boire with boit
A purely visual mix-up. boire (\bwaʁ\) and boit (\bwa\) 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 9775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boire is recorded at frequency rank #1,984, classified as averb, pronounced \bwaʁ\. boit is at rank #7,791, tagged as averb, pronounced \bwa\.
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 9775, this pair ranks #415,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boire vs boit
Shared letters: bio. Private to "boire": er. Private to "boit": t.
"boire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "boit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boire" for "boit" ever safe?
Which is more common, "boire" or "boit"?
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 "boire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "boit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boire" and "boit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boit 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 #415,449 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.