Which to use
“bide” is a verb and “bodes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,526
- “bide” frequency rank
- #48,094
- “bodes” frequency rank
- 91620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bide | bodes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To bear; to endure; to tolerate. | plural of bode |
Where the eye mixes bide and bodes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bide runs 4 letters (CVCV) against bodes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between bide and bodes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bide is /baɪd/ while bodes is /bəʊdz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bide is recorded at frequency rank #43,526, classified as averb, pronounced /baɪd/. bodes is at rank #48,094, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bəʊdz/.
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 91620, this pair ranks #3,151 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bide vs bodes
Shared letters: bde. Private to "bide": i. Private to "bodes": os.
"bide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bide" and "bodes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "bide" or "bodes" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bodes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,151 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bide" and "bodes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes vs Bodie". 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 #3,151 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.