Which to use
“boule” and “bouts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,648
- “boule” frequency rank
- #8,966
- “bouts” frequency rank
- 13614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boule | bouts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corps rond en tous sens, généralement plein. — Note d’usage : Se dit surtout des objets dont les dimensions leur permettent d’être tenus en main. | Pluriel de bout. |
Where the eye mixes boule and bouts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses boule with bouts
A purely visual mix-up. boule (\bul\) and bouts (\bu\) 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 13614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boule is recorded at frequency rank #4,648, classified as anoun, pronounced \bul\. bouts is at rank #8,966, tagged as anoun, 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 13614, this pair ranks #400,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boule vs bouts
Shared letters: bou. Private to "boule": el. Private to "bouts": st.
"boule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "bouts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boule" for "bouts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "boule" vs "bouts" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "boule" and "bouts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "boule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bouts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boule" and "bouts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boers vs bouts". 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 #400,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.