bemvsboxTell them apart

Quick tell: bem is a adverb, box is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bem” is an adverb and “box” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#54
“bem” frequency rank
#6,381
“box” frequency rank
6435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bem box
Definition de maneira hábil, segura cada espaço subdividido por parede ou extrutura similar e que é destinado ao uso comercial dentro de uma construção maior

Letter map: bem vs box

Shared letters muted; letters that set bem and box apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
bem
3 ch
box

Part-of-speech tell for bem / box

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bem is anadverb and boxanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bem is recorded at frequency rank #54, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈbẽĩ̯/. box is at rank #6,381, tagged as anoun.

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 6435, this pair ranks #68,000 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bem vs box

Shared letters: b. Private to "bem": em. Private to "box": ox.

"bem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "box" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bem" for "box" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bem" is an adverb and "box" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bem" or "box" show up more?
"bem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #54 in our Portuguese list, against #6,381 for "box". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bem" and "box".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "box" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,000 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bem" and "box" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "box vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #68,000 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list