Which to use
“bom” is an adjective and “box” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #96
- “bom” frequency rank
- #6,381
- “box” frequency rank
- 6477
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bom | box |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que corresponde plenamente ao que é exigido, desejado ou esperado quanto à sua natureza, adequação, função, eficácia, funcionamento etc. (falando de ser ou coisa) | cada espaço subdividido por parede ou extrutura similar e que é destinado ao uso comercial dentro de uma construção maior |
Letter map: bom vs box
Shared letters muted; letters that set bom and box apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for bom / box
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bom is anadjective and boxanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “bom” becomes x in “box”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bom is recorded at frequency rank #96, classified as anadj. 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 6477, this pair ranks #67,952 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bom vs box
Shared letters: bo. Private to "bom": m. Private to "box": x.
"bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "box" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bom" for "box" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bom" or "box" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "bom" and "box". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "bom" 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 #67,952 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bom" and "box" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "box vs bué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #67,952 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.