boitvsbomWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: boit is a verb, bom is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“boit” is a verb and “bom” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,791
“boit” frequency rank
#41,679
“bom” frequency rank
49470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature boit bom
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe boire. Bon.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set boit and bom apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
boit
3 ch
bom

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: boit is \bwa\ while bom is \bõ\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

boit is recorded at frequency rank #7,791, classified as averb, pronounced \bwa\. bom is at rank #41,679, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bõ\.

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 49470, this pair ranks #170,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of boit vs bom

Shared letters: bo. Private to "boit": it. Private to "bom": m.

"boit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • boitbboit · boitt · boti · obit

Frequency comparison

boit#7,791
bom#41,679

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "boit" and "bom" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "boit" is a verb and "bom" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "boit" or "bom"?
"boit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,791 in our French list, against #41,679 for "bom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering boit vs bom

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “boit”; for an adjective, it's “bom”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “boit” 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