blocksvsblokeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,410
“blocks” frequency rank
#13,865
“bloke” frequency rank
17275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blocks bloke
Definition plural of block A fellow, a man; especially an ordinary man, a man on the street.

Where the eye mixes blocks and bloke

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

6 ch
blocks
5 ch
bloke

Visual trap between blocks and bloke

A purely visual mix-up. blocks (/blɑks/) and bloke (/bləʊk/) 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 17275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blocks is recorded at frequency rank #3,410, classified as anoun, pronounced /blɑks/. bloke is at rank #13,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bləʊk/.

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 17275, this pair ranks #452,499 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of blocks vs bloke

Shared letters: bklo. Private to "blocks": cs. Private to "bloke": e.

"blocks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "bloke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blocksbblocks · blcoks · bllocks · bloccks · blockks · blockss · blocsk · blokcs
  • blokebbloke · blkoe · blloke · bloek · blokke · bolke · lboke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blocks" and "bloke" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/blɑks/ versus /bləʊk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "blocks" vs "bloke" - which ranks higher?
"blocks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,410 in our English list, against #13,865 for "bloke". 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 "blocks" and "bloke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "blocks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bloke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #452,499 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blocks" and "bloke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bloat vs bloke". 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 #452,499 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