bendsvsbondsConfusable pair

Which to use

“bends” and “bonds” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,494
“bends” frequency rank
#4,507
“bonds” frequency rank
23001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bends bonds
Definition plural of bend plural of bond

Where the eye mixes bends and bonds

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bends
5 ch
bonds

Look-alike desk: bends vs bonds

A purely visual mix-up. bends (/bɛndz/) and bonds (/bɑndz/) 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 - e in “bends” becomes o in “bonds”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bends is recorded at frequency rank #18,494, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɛndz/. bonds is at rank #4,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɑndz/.

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 23001, this pair ranks #412,450 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bends vs bonds

Shared letters: bdns. Private to "bends": e. Private to "bonds": o.

"bends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "bonds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bendsbbends · bedns · bendds · bendss · bennds · bensd · bneds · ebnds
  • bondsbbonds · bnods · bodns · bondds · bondss · bonnds · bonsd · obnds

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bends" and "bonds" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bɛndz/ versus /bɑndz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bends" or "bonds"?
"bonds" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,507 in our English list, against #18,494 for "bends". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bends" and "bonds" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bends" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bonds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #412,450 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bends" and "bonds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bends vs bendy". 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 #412,450 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list