Which to use
“boites” is a noun and “bones” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,526
- “boites” frequency rank
- #25,228
- “bones” frequency rank
- 37754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boites | bones |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de boite. | Cas sujet féminin pluriel de bon. |
Where the eye mixes boites and bones
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between boites and bones
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: boites is \bwat\ while bones is \bɔ̃.nəs\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boites is recorded at frequency rank #12,526, classified as anoun, pronounced \bwat\. bones is at rank #25,228, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bɔ̃.nəs\.
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 37754, this pair ranks #260,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of boites vs bones
Shared letters: beos. Private to "boites": it. Private to "bones": n.
"boites" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "bones" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boites" for "bones" ever safe?
Frequency check: "boites" vs "bones" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "boites" and "bones" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "boites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bones" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boites" and "bones" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bones vs bordés". 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 #260,168 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.