boxvsboyTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,381
“box” frequency rank
#3,884
“boy” frequency rank
10265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature box boy
Definition cada espaço subdividido por parede ou extrutura similar e que é destinado ao uso comercial dentro de uma construção maior garoto, rapaz, jovem

Letter map: box vs boy

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

3 ch
box
3 ch
boy

Spelling & dictionary notes on box vs boy

box and boy 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 a single letter - x in “box” becomes y in “boy”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

box is recorded at frequency rank #6,381, classified as anoun. boy is at rank #3,884, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɔɪ/.

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 10265, this pair ranks #62,889 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of box vs boy

Shared letters: bo. Private to "box": x. Private to "boy": y.

"box" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "boy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "box" for "boy" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - x in “box” becomes y in “boy”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "box" or "boy" show up more?
"boy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,884 in our Portuguese list, against #6,381 for "box". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "box" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "boy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,889 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "box" and "boy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "box vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #62,889 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