Crate vs. Box: What's the Difference?
Edited by Aimie Carlson || By Janet White || Updated on October 8, 2023
Crate is typically a large shipping container, often made of wooden slats or a similar material, while a box is usually a solid, enclosed container and may be smaller and made of various materials.
Key Differences
A crate, often constructed of slats of wood, metal, or other material, is generally recognized for its capacity to hold heavy, large, or numerous items for shipping or storage. Conversely, a box, made potentially from cardboard, wood, metal, or plastic, traditionally encapsulates a wider array of sizes and is utilized for storing, moving, or packaging items, often being fully enclosed to protect its contents.
Crate, with its open-slatted design, typically allows for visibility and airflow to its contents, ensuring that items, especially perishables like fruits or vegetables, remain fresh during transportation. A box, with its enclosed nature, usually provides more protection from dust and dirt but lacks the ventilative properties that a crate may offer.
Crate tends to be chosen for its sturdiness and the ability to withstand heavier loads, often being employed in a commercial or industrial context for transporting goods in bulk. On the contrary, a box, depending on its material, might cater to lighter, smaller items and is more universally used across various contexts from moving houses to packaging gifts.
Crate can be associated with an agricultural and commercial context due to its common use in transporting fruits, vegetables, and bulk items, suggesting a rustic or industrial aesthetic. A box, being versatile and available in various materials and appearances, can be utilized in myriad contexts, including gift-giving, which can confer a more polished or personalized aesthetic.
The utilization of crate often implies a temporary usage for transportation or storage during transit, being synonymous with shipping or delivery contexts. However, a box might be employed for both short-term use, such as moving, and long-term storage, often being stowed away in attics or closets, illustrating a more varied application.
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Comparison Chart
Material
Typically wooden slats or plastic
Cardboard, wood, plastic, metal, etc.
Visibility to Contents
Often visible due to slatted design
Generally not visible, fully enclosed
Typical Usage Context
Shipping, commercial transport
Storage, moving, gift packaging
Size
Often larger, meant for bulk items
Varying sizes, from very small to large
Association
Commercial, industrial, agricultural
Universal, across various contexts
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Crate and Box Definitions
Crate
Slatted Design
Vegetables were aired in the crate.
Box
Enclosed Container
The box held a birthday gift.
Crate
Heavy-Duty
The crate was used to hold engine parts.
Box
Variable Size
The small box was filled with jewelry.
Crate
Shipping Use
The goods were sent in a crate.
Box
Protective
The box shielded the contents from dust.
Crate
A container, such as a slatted wooden case, used for storing or shipping.
Box
Multi-Material
The wooden box was ornately carved.
Crate
A container, usually of plastic, metal, or wood, used to house or transport an animal.
Box
A container typically constructed with four sides perpendicular to the base and often having a lid or cover.
Crate
(Slang) An old rickety vehicle, especially a decrepit automobile or aircraft.
Box
The amount or quantity that such a container can hold.
Crate
To pack into a container, such as a slatted wooden case.
Box
A square or rectangle
Draw a box around your answer.
Crate
To put (an animal) into a crate.
Box
A separated compartment in a public place of entertainment, such as a theater or stadium, for the accommodation of a small group.
Crate
A large open box or basket, used especially to transport fragile goods.
Box
An area of a public place, such as a courtroom or stadium, marked off and restricted for use by persons performing a specific function
A jury box.
Crate
A vehicle (car, aircraft, spacecraft, etc.) seen as unreliable.
Box
A small structure serving as a shelter
A sentry box.
Crate
(programming) In the Rust programming language, a binary or library.
Box
Chiefly British A small country house used as a sporting lodge
A shooting box.
Crate
(transitive) To put into a crate.
Box
A box stall.
Crate
(transitive) To keep in a crate.
Box
The raised seat for the driver of a coach or carriage.
Crate
A large basket or hamper of wickerwork, used for the transportation of china, crockery, and similar wares.
Box
An area on a diamond marked by lines designating where the batter may stand.
Crate
A box or case whose sides are of wooden slats with interspaces, - used especially for transporting fruit.
Box
Any of various designated areas for other team members, such as the pitcher, catcher, and coaches.
Crate
To pack in a crate or case for transportation; as, to crate a sewing machine; to crate peaches.
Box
A penalty box.
Crate
A rugged box (usually made of wood); used for shipping
Box
The penalty area on a soccer field.
Crate
The quantity contained in a crate
Box
(Printing) Featured printed matter enclosed by hairlines, a border, or white space and placed within or between text columns.
Crate
Put into a crate; as for protection;
Crate the paintings before shipping them to the museum
Box
A hollow made in the side of a tree for the collection of sap.
Crate
Large Container
The crate was filled with apples.
Box
A post office box.
Crate
Commercial Transport
The crate was loaded onto the truck.
Box
An inbox.
Box
An outbox.
Box
An insulating, enclosing, or protective casing or part in a machine.
Box
A signaling device enclosed in a casing
An alarm box.
Box
A cable box.
Box
(Informal) A television.
Box
A very large portable radio.
Box
Chiefly British A gift or gratuity, especially one given at Christmas.
Box
An awkward or perplexing situation; a predicament.
Box
Vulgar Slang The vulva and the vagina.
Box
A slap or blow with the hand or fist
A box on the ear.
Box
Any of several evergreen shrubs or trees of the genus Buxus, especially the Eurasian species B. sempervirens, widely cultivated as a hedge plant and having opposite, leathery, dark green leaves and small whitish flowers.
Box
The hard, light yellow wood of any of these plants, formerly widely used to make musical instruments, inlays, engraving blocks, and measuring instruments. Also called boxwood.
Box
Any of various other shrubs or trees with similar foliage or timber, especially several types of eucalyptus.
Box
To pack in a box.
Box
To confine in or as if in a box.
Box
To border or enclose with or as if with a box
Key sections of the report are boxed off.
Box
To provide a housing or case for (a machine part, for example).
Box
To limit the activity or influence of by or as if by creating a restrictive structure or outlining a territory
The legislature was boxed in by its earlier decisions.
Box
(Sports) To block (a competitor or opponent) from advancing, especially to hinder an opponent from getting a rebound in basketball by placing oneself between the opponent and the basket
Was boxed out by the tallest player on the team.
Was boxed in on the homestretch.
Box
(Nautical) To boxhaul.
Box
To cut a hole in (a tree) for the collection of sap.
Box
To blend (paint) by pouring alternately between two containers.
Box
To change the shape of (a structure, such as a wall) by applying lath and plaster or boarding.
Box
To hit with the hand or fist.
Box
(Sports) To take part in a boxing match with.
Box
To fight with the fists or in a boxing match.
Box
Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
Box
A cuboid space; a cuboid container, often with a hinged lid.
Box
A cuboid container and its contents; as much as fills such a container.
A box of books
Box
A compartment (as a drawer) of an item of furniture used for storage, such as a cupboard, a shelf, etc.
Box
A compartment or receptacle for receiving items.
Post box
Post office box
Box
A compartment to sit inside in an auditorium, courtroom, theatre, or other building.
Box
The driver's seat on a horse-drawn coach.
Box
A small rectangular shelter.
Box
(automotive) gearbox
Box
(rail) signal box
Box
(figuratively) A predicament or trap.
I’m really in a box now.
Box
(slang) A prison cell.
Box
(euphemistic) A coffin.
Box
(slang) Preceded by the: television.
Box
The vagina.
Box
A computer, or the case in which it is housed.
A UNIX box
Box
(slang) A gym dedicated to the CrossFit exercise program.
Box
(cricket) A hard protector for the genitals worn inside the underpants by a batsman or close fielder.
Box
(cricket) gully
Box
(engineering) A cylindrical casing around the axle of a wheel, a bearing, a gland, etc.
Box
(fencing) A device used in electric fencing to detect whether a weapon has struck an opponent, which connects to a fencer's weapon by a spool and body wire. It uses lights and sound to notify a hit, with different coloured lights for on target and off target hits.
Box
(dated) A small country house.
Box
A stringed instrument with a soundbox, especially a guitar.
Box
Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
Box
A rectangle: an oblong or a square.
Place a tick in the box.
This text would stand out better if we put it in a coloured box.
Box
(baseball) The rectangle in which the batter stands.
Box
(genetics) One of two specific regions in a promoter.
Box
(juggling) A pattern usually performed with three balls where the movements of the balls make a boxlike shape.
Box
(soccer) The penalty area.
Box
(aviation) A diamond-shaped flying formation consisting of four aircraft.
Box
Any of various evergreen shrubs or trees of genus Buxus, especially common box, European box, or boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) which is often used for making hedges and topiary.
Box
The wood from a box tree: boxwood.
Box
A musical instrument, especially one made from boxwood.
Box
(Australia) An evergreen tree of the genus Lophostemon (for example, box scrub, Brisbane box, brush box, pink box, or Queensland box, Lophostemon confertus).
Box
(Australia) Various species of Eucalyptus trees are popularly called various kinds of boxes, on the basis of the nature of their wood, bark, or appearance for example, the drooping (Eucalyptus bicolor), shiny-leaved (Eucalyptus tereticornis), black, or ironbark box trees.
Box
A blow with the fist.
Box
(dated) A Mediterranean food fish of the genus Boops, which is a variety of sea bream; a bogue or oxeye.
Box
(transitive) To place inside a box; to pack in one or more boxes.
Box
(transitive) Usually followed by in: to surround and enclose in a way that restricts movement; to corner, to hem in.
Box
(transitive) To mix two containers of paint of similar colour to ensure that the color is identical.
Box
To make an incision or hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap.
Box
To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipes) or to bring to a required form.
Box
To furnish (for example, the axle of a wheel) with a box.
Box
To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box.
Box
To place a value of a primitive type into a corresponding object.
Box
(transitive) To strike with the fists; to punch.
Box someone’s ears
Leave this place before I box you!
Box
To fight against (a person) in a boxing match.
Box
To participate in boxing; to be a boxer.
Box
A tree or shrub, flourishing in different parts of the world. The common box (Buxus sempervirens) has two varieties, one of which, the dwarf box (Buxus suffruticosa), is much used for borders in gardens. The wood of the tree varieties, being very hard and smooth, is extensively used in the arts, as by turners, engravers, mathematical instrument makers, etc.
Box
A receptacle or case of any firm material and of various shapes.
Box
The quantity that a box contain.
Box
A space with a few seats partitioned off in a theater, or other place of public amusement.
Laughed at by the pit, box, galleries, nay, stage.
The boxes and the pit are sovereign judges.
Box
A chest or any receptacle for the deposit of money; as, a poor box; a contribution box.
Yet since his neighbors give, the churl unlocks,Damning the poor, his tripple-bolted box.
Box
A small country house.
Tight boxes neatly sashed.
Box
A boxlike shed for shelter; as, a sentry box.
Box
An axle box, journal box, journal bearing, or bushing.
Box
The driver's seat on a carriage or coach.
Box
A present in a box; a present; esp. a Christmas box or gift.
Box
The square in which the pitcher stands.
Box
A Mediterranean food fish; the bogue.
Box
A blow on the head or ear with the hand.
A good-humored box on the ear.
Box
To inclose in a box.
Box
To furnish with boxes, as a wheel.
Box
To inclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to bring to a required form.
Box
To fight with the fist; to combat with, or as with, the hand or fist; to spar.
Box
To strike with the hand or fist, especially to strike on the ear, or on the side of the head.
Box
To boxhaul.
Box
A (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid;
He rummaged through a box of spare parts
Box
Private area in a theater or grandstand where a small group can watch the performance;
The royal box was empty
Box
The quantity contained in a box;
He gave her a box of chocolates
Box
A predicament from which a skillful or graceful escape is impossible;
His lying got him into a tight corner
Box
A rectangular drawing;
The flowchart contained many boxes
Box
Evergreen shrubs or small trees
Box
Any one of several designated areas on a ball field where the batter or catcher or coaches are positioned;
The umpire warned the batter to stay in the batter's box
Box
The driver's seat on a coach;
An armed guard sat in the box with the driver
Box
Separate partitioned area in a public place for a few people;
The sentry stayed in his box to avoid the cold
Box
A blow with the hand (usually on the ear);
I gave him a good box on the ear
Box
Put into a box;
Box the gift, please
Box
Hit with the fist;
I'll box your ears!
Box
Engage in a boxing match
Box
Typically Lightweight
The cardboard box was easy to lift.
FAQs
Is a crate suitable for gift packaging?
Rarely, crates are generally too industrial and bulky for gifts.
Is a box typically fully enclosed?
Yes, boxes are usually fully enclosed to protect contents.
Can a box be used for shipping?
Yes, boxes, especially corrugated ones, are used for shipping.
Can a box hold heavy machinery parts?
It depends on the material and construction of the box.
Are boxes better for storing clothes?
Typically yes, as they can provide protection from elements.
Are crates always made of wood?
No, crates can also be made from plastic or metal.
Are crates often used in agriculture?
Yes, crates are used to transport fruits and vegetables.
Is a crate better for transporting perishables?
Often yes, due to its ventilative properties.
Can a box be reused easily?
Yes, boxes, especially sturdy ones, can be reused.
Can I store files in a crate?
Yes, but crates may not offer protection from dust/dirt.
Can boxes be decorative?
Yes, boxes can be decorative and used for presentation.
Can a box be sealed air-tight?
Some boxes can be sealed air-tight, depending on material/design.
Is a crate visually aesthetic?
Generally, no. Crates are often practical and industrial-looking.
Are crates used in moving houses?
Rarely, as they are bulkier and less protective of belongings.
Are crates easily stackable?
Yes, crates are often designed to be stackable.
Is a crate useful for long-term storage?
Not ideally, due to its open nature and lack of protection.
Can a box be handmade?
Yes, boxes can be handmade using various materials.
Can boxes be purchased easily?
Yes, boxes are widely available in various shapes and sizes.
Are boxes available in multiple materials?
Yes, boxes come in cardboard, wood, plastic, metal, etc.
Can a crate be assembled easily?
Some crates require assembly, while others are pre-constructed.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Aimie CarlsonAimie Carlson, holding a master's degree in English literature, is a fervent English language enthusiast. She lends her writing talents to Difference Wiki, a prominent website that specializes in comparisons, offering readers insightful analyses that both captivate and inform.
