biasesvsblazesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,029
“biases” frequency rank
#37,827
“blazes” frequency rank
56856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature biases blazes
Definition plural of bias plural of blaze

Where the eye mixes biases and blazes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. biases (CVVCVC) and blazes (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
biases
6 ch
blazes

Look-alike desk: biases vs blazes

A purely visual mix-up. biases (/ˈbaɪ.ə.sɪz/) and blazes (/ˈbleɪzɪz/) 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 56856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

biases is recorded at frequency rank #19,029, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaɪ.ə.sɪz/. blazes is at rank #37,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbleɪzɪz/.

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 56856, this pair ranks #123,265 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of biases vs blazes

Shared letters: abes. Private to "biases": i. Private to "blazes": lz.

"biases" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "blazes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • biases ← baises · bbiases · biaess · biasess · biasse · biasses · bisaes · ibases
  • blazes ← balzes · bblazes · blaezs · blazess · blazse · blazzes · bllazes · blzaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "biases" for "blazes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbaɪ.ə.sɪz/ versus /ˈbleɪzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "biases" or "blazes"?
"biases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,029 in our English list, against #37,827 for "blazes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "biases" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blazes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,265 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "biases" and "blazes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bladed vs blazes". 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 #123,265 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