Which to use
“bom” is an adjective and “bouh” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,679
- “bom” frequency rank
- #37,206
- “bouh” frequency rank
- 78885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bom | bouh |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bon. | Raillerie, ou huée de désapprobation, pour conspuer quelqu'un. → voir ouh et hou |
Where the eye mixes bom and bouh
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bom runs 3 letters (CVC) against bouh's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between bom and bouh
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bom is \bõ\ while bouh is \bu\. 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 (adjective vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bom is recorded at frequency rank #41,679, classified as anadj, pronounced \bõ\. bouh is at rank #37,206, tagged as anintj, pronounced \bu\.
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 78885, this pair ranks #24,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bom vs bouh
Shared letters: bo. Private to "bom": m. Private to "bouh": hu.
"bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "bouh" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bouh ← bbouh · bohu · bouhh · buoh · obuh
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bom" for "bouh" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bom" vs "bouh" - which ranks higher?
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 "bom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bouh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bom" and "bouh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bold vs bom". 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 #24,616 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.