bolsvsboxesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,251
“bols” frequency rank
#41,683
“boxes” frequency rank
70934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bols boxes
Definition Pluriel de bol. Pluriel de boxe.

Where the eye mixes bols and boxes

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

4 ch
bols
5 ch
boxes

Visual trap between bols and boxes

A purely visual mix-up. bols (\bɔl\) and boxes (\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 70934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bols is recorded at frequency rank #29,251, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɔl\. boxes is at rank #41,683, 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 70934, this pair ranks #49,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bols vs boxes

Shared letters: bos. Private to "bols": l. Private to "boxes": ex.

"bols" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "boxes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bolsbbols · blos · bolls · bolss · bosl · obls
  • boxesbboxes · boexs · boxess · boxse · boxxes · bxoes · obxes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bols" and "boxes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\bɔl\ versus \bɔks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "bols" or "boxes" show up more?
"bols" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,251 in our French list, against #41,683 for "boxes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bols" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "boxes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bols" and "boxes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bordés vs boxes". 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 #49,431 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