boîtevsboxeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,651
“boîte” frequency rank
#7,154
“boxe” frequency rank
8805
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature boîte boxe
Definition Objet rigide et creux ayant la capacité de se fermer et qui a vocation à accueillir quelque chose. Sport dans lequel les deux adversaires échangent des coups selon certaines règles.

Where the eye mixes boîte and boxe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
boîte
4 ch
boxe

Look-alike desk: boîte vs boxe

A purely visual mix-up. boîte (\bwat\) and boxe (\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 8805, 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\. boxe is at rank #7,154, 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 8805, this pair ranks #418,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of boîte vs boxe

Shared letters: beo. Private to "boîte": . Private to "boxe": x.

"boîte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "boxe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • boxebboxe · boex · boxxe · bxoe · obxe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "boîte" and "boxe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bwat\ versus \bɔks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "boîte" or "boxe" show up more?
"boîte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,651 in our French list, against #7,154 for "boxe". 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 "boîte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "boxe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #418,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "boîte" and "boxe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bold vs boxe". 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 #418,782 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