bitesvsbribesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,708
“bites” frequency rank
#19,541
“bribes” frequency rank
29249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bites bribes
Definition plural of bite plural of bribe

Where the eye mixes bites and bribes

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

5 ch
bites
6 ch
bribes

Look-alike desk: bites vs bribes

A purely visual mix-up. bites (/baɪts/) and bribes (/bɹaɪbz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bites is recorded at frequency rank #9,708, classified as anoun, pronounced /baɪts/. bribes is at rank #19,541, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹaɪbz/.

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 29249, this pair ranks #364,575 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bites vs bribes

Shared letters: beis. Private to "bites": t. Private to "bribes": r.

"bites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bribes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bitesbbites · biets · bitess · bitse · bittes · bties · ibtes
  • bribesbbribes · birbes · brbies · bribbes · bribess · bribse · briebs · brribes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bites" and "bribes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/baɪts/ versus /bɹaɪbz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "bites" or "bribes" show up more?
"bites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,708 in our English list, against #19,541 for "bribes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bribes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #364,575 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bites" and "bribes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bribes vs BRICS". 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 #364,575 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