Which to use
“bold” and “bon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,947
- “bold” frequency rank
- #108
- “bon” frequency rank
- 49055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bold | bon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hardi. | Qui a des qualités conformes à ce que l’on attendait. |
Where the eye mixes bold and bon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bold vs bon
A purely visual mix-up. bold (\bəʊld\) and bon (\bɔ̃\) 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 49055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bold is recorded at frequency rank #48,947, classified as anadj, pronounced \bəʊld\. bon is at rank #108, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bɔ̃\.
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 49055, this pair ranks #173,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bold vs bon
Shared letters: bo. Private to "bold": dl. Private to "bon": n.
"bold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bon" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bold ← bbold · bodl · boldd · bolld · obld
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bold" for "bon" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "bold" or "bon" show up more?
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 "bold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bold" and "bon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bold vs broad". 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 #173,833 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.