bovsboxTell them apart

Which to use

“bo” and “box” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,736
“bo” frequency rank
#6,381
“box” frequency rank
14117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bo box
Definition bastão longo de madeira ou bambu, utilizado em artes marciais cada espaço subdividido por parede ou extrutura similar e que é destinado ao uso comercial dentro de uma construção maior

Letter map: bo vs box

Shared letters muted; letters that set bo and box apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch
bo
3 ch
box

Spelling & dictionary notes on bo vs box

bo and box are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bo” sits inside “box”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bo is recorded at frequency rank #7,736, classified as anoun, pronounced /bo/. 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 14117, this pair ranks #58,055 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bo vs box

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bo": -. Private to "box": x.

"bo" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "box" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bo" and "box" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bo” sits inside “box”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "bo" or "box"?
"box" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,381 in our Portuguese list, against #7,736 for "bo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "bo" vs "box" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bo" 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 #58,055 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bo" and "box" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bo vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #58,055 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