bade vs bide, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bade and bide apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

bade

4 ch

bide

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

bade ← badde · bbade · bdae
bide ← bbide · bdie · bidde · bied · ibde

Frequency comparison

bade#42,539

bide#43,526

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bade" and "bide" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/bæd/ versus /baɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "bade" or "bide"?

"bade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,539 in our English list, against #43,526 for "bide". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bade vs bide

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bade” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable