Which to use
“boire” is a verb and “bourre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,984
- “boire” frequency rank
- #17,887
- “bourre” frequency rank
- 19871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boire | bourre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mettre un liquide dans sa bouche et l’avaler. | Amas de poils détachés de la peau de certains animaux à poil ras, tels que les bovins, les chevaux, etc. |
Where the eye mixes boire and bourre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses boire with bourre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: boire is \bwaʁ\ while bourre is \buʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19871, 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\. bourre is at rank #17,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced \buʁ\.
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 19871, this pair ranks #371,123 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boire vs bourre
Shared letters: beor. Private to "boire": i. Private to "bourre": u.
"boire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "bourre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boire" for "bourre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "boire" vs "bourre" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "bourre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,123 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boire" and "bourre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bourdes vs bourre". 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 #371,123 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.