boiventvsbordentWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,743
“boivent” frequency rank
#33,576
“bordent” frequency rank
47319
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature boivent bordent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de boire. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe border.

Where the eye mixes boivent and bordent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. boivent (CVVCVCC) and bordent (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
boivent
7 ch
bordent

Look-alike desk: boivent vs bordent

A purely visual mix-up. boivent (\bwav\) and bordent (\bɔʁd\) 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 47319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

boivent is recorded at frequency rank #13,743, classified as averb, pronounced \bwav\. bordent is at rank #33,576, tagged as averb, pronounced \bɔʁd\.

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 47319, this pair ranks #187,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of boivent vs bordent

Shared letters: benot. Private to "boivent": iv. Private to "bordent": dr.

"boivent" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "bordent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • boiventbboivent · biovent · boievnt · boivennt · boiventt · boivetn · boivnet · boivvent
  • bordentbbordent · bodrent · borddent · bordennt · bordentt · bordetn · bordnet · borednt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "boivent" and "bordent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bwav\ versus \bɔʁd\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "boivent" or "bordent" show up more?
"boivent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,743 in our French list, against #33,576 for "bordent". 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 "boivent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bordent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #187,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "boivent" and "bordent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bordent 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 #187,893 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