badevsbladedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bade is a verb, bladed is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bade” is a verb and “bladed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,539
“bade” frequency rank
#41,019
“bladed” frequency rank
83558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bade bladed
Definition simple past of bid Having a blade; having the specified number or type of blades.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bade and bladed apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
bade
6 ch
bladed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bade is /bæd/ while bladed is /ˈbleɪdɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83558, 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/. bladed is at rank #41,019, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbleɪdɪd/.

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 83558, this pair ranks #13,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bade vs bladed

Shared letters: abde. Private to "bade": -. Private to "bladed": l.

"bade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bladed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • badebadde · bbade · bdae
  • bladedbalded · bbladed · bladded · bladedd · blaedd · bldaed · blladed · lbaded

Frequency comparison

bade#42,539
bladed#41,019

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bade" and "bladed" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bade" is a verb and "bladed" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bade" or "bladed"?
"bladed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,019 in our English list, against #42,539 for "bade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bade vs bladed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “bade”; for an adjective, it's “bladed”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list