Which to use
“blades” is a noun and “blames” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,642
- “blades” frequency rank
- #13,863
- “blames” frequency rank
- 22505
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blades | blames |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of blade | third-person singular simple present indicative of blame |
Where the eye mixes blades and blames
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blades and blames
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blades is /bleɪdz/ while blames is /bleɪmz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “blades” becomes m in “blames”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blades is recorded at frequency rank #8,642, classified as anoun, pronounced /bleɪdz/. blames is at rank #13,863, tagged as averb, pronounced /bleɪmz/.
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 22505, this pair ranks #416,104 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of blades vs blames
Shared letters: abels. Private to "blades": d. Private to "blames": m.
"blades" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "blames" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "blades" and "blames" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "blades" or "blames"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "blades" and "blames" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blades" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blames" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,104 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blades" and "blames" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beamer vs blames". 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 #416,104 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.