Which to use
“boyau” and “boyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,189
- “boyau” frequency rank
- #14,868
- “boyer” frequency rank
- 54057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boyau | boyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intestin, tripes, viscères. | Nom d’une espèce de bâtiment de charge hollandais. |
Where the eye mixes boyau and boyer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: boyau vs boyer
A purely visual mix-up. boyau (\bwa.jo\) and boyer (\bwa.je\) 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 54057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boyau is recorded at frequency rank #39,189, classified as anoun, pronounced \bwa.jo\. boyer is at rank #14,868, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bwa.je\.
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 54057, this pair ranks #136,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of boyau vs boyer
Shared letters: boy. Private to "boyau": au. Private to "boyer": er.
"boyau" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV · "boyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "boyau" and "boyer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "boyau" or "boyer" 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 "boyau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "boyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #136,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boyau" and "boyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bona vs boyau". 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 #136,616 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.