Which to use
“boîte” and “bonne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,651
- “boîte” frequency rank
- #167
- “bonne” frequency rank
- 1818
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boîte | bonne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Objet rigide et creux ayant la capacité de se fermer et qui a vocation à accueillir quelque chose. | Servante dans une maison bourgeoise, dans un hôtel, etc., fille chargée de soigner un enfant. |
Where the eye mixes boîte and bonne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between boîte and bonne
A purely visual mix-up. boîte (\bwat\) and bonne (\bɔn\) 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 1818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boîte is recorded at frequency rank #1,651, classified as anoun, pronounced \bwat\. bonne is at rank #167, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɔn\.
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 1818, this pair ranks #437,335 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boîte vs bonne
Shared letters: beo. Private to "boîte": tî. Private to "bonne": n.
"boîte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "bonne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- bonne ← bbonne · bnone · bonen · obnne
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "boîte" and "bonne" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "boîte" or "bonne"?
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 "boîte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bonne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,335 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boîte" and "bonne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bonne vs Byrne". 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 #437,335 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.