Which to use
“bouts” and “boxes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,966
- “bouts” frequency rank
- #41,683
- “boxes” frequency rank
- 50649
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bouts | boxes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bout. | Pluriel de boxe. |
Where the eye mixes bouts and boxes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bouts and boxes
A purely visual mix-up. bouts (\bu\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bouts is recorded at frequency rank #8,966, classified as anoun, pronounced \bu\. 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 50649, this pair ranks #161,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bouts vs boxes
Shared letters: bos. Private to "bouts": tu. Private to "boxes": ex.
"bouts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "boxes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bouts" for "boxes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bouts" vs "boxes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bouts" 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 #161,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bouts" 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 #161,011 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.