Which to use
“boites” and “buttes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,526
- “boites” frequency rank
- #35,412
- “buttes” frequency rank
- 47938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boites | buttes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de boite. | Pluriel de butte. |
Where the eye mixes boites and buttes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. boites (CVVCVC) and buttes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses boites with buttes
A purely visual mix-up. boites (\bwat\) and buttes (\byt\) 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 47938, 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\. buttes is at rank #35,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \byt\.
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 47938, this pair ranks #182,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of boites vs buttes
Shared letters: best. Private to "boites": io. Private to "buttes": u.
"boites" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "buttes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boites" for "buttes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "boites" or "buttes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "boites" and "buttes" 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 "buttes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boites" and "buttes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buses vs buttes". 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 #182,962 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.