Which to use
“blokes” and “bores” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,700
- “blokes” frequency rank
- #35,207
- “bores” frequency rank
- 61907
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blokes | bores |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bloke | plural of bore |
Where the eye mixes blokes and bores
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. blokes runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against bores's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between blokes and bores
A purely visual mix-up. blokes (/bləʊks/) and bores (/bɔɹz/) 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 61907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blokes is recorded at frequency rank #26,700, classified as anoun, pronounced /bləʊks/. bores is at rank #35,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɔɹz/.
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 61907, this pair ranks #91,476 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of blokes vs bores
Shared letters: beos. Private to "blokes": kl. Private to "bores": r.
"blokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "bores" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "blokes" and "bores" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "blokes" or "bores"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "blokes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bores" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #91,476 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blokes" and "bores" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes vs bores". 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 #91,476 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.