Which to use
“bade” and “bide” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,539
- “bade” frequency rank
- #43,526
- “bide” frequency rank
- 86065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bade | bide |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of bid | To bear; to endure; to tolerate. |
Where the eye mixes bade and bide
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bade and bide follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses bade with bide
A purely visual mix-up. bade (/bæd/) and bide (/baɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “bade” becomes i in “bide”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bade is recorded at frequency rank #42,539, classified as averb, pronounced /bæd/. bide is at rank #43,526, tagged as averb, pronounced /baɪd/.
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 86065, this pair ranks #9,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bade vs bide
Shared letters: bde. Private to "bade": a. Private to "bide": i.
"bade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "bide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bade" and "bide" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bade" vs "bide" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bade" and "bide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bade vs bandy". 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 #9,477 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.