Which to use
“babes” and “bodes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,295
- “babes” frequency rank
- #48,094
- “bodes” frequency rank
- 65389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | babes | bodes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of babe | plural of bode |
Where the eye mixes babes and bodes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: babes vs bodes
A purely visual mix-up. babes (/beɪbz/) and bodes (/bəʊdz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
babes is recorded at frequency rank #17,295, classified as anoun, pronounced /beɪbz/. bodes is at rank #48,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bəʊdz/.
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 65389, this pair ranks #72,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of babes vs bodes
Shared letters: bes. Private to "babes": a. Private to "bodes": do.
"babes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "babes" and "bodes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "babes" vs "bodes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "babes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bodes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "babes" and "bodes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes vs Bodie". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #72,994 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.