Which to use
“blur” is a verb and “bolus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,867
- “blur” frequency rank
- #46,942
- “bolus” frequency rank
- 60809
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blur | bolus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make indistinct or hazy, to obscure or dim. | A round mass of something, especially of chewed food in the mouth or alimentary canal. |
Where the eye mixes blur and bolus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blur and bolus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blur is /ˈblɜː/ while bolus is /ˈbəʊləs/. 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 60809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blur is recorded at frequency rank #13,867, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈblɜː/. bolus is at rank #46,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbəʊləs/.
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 60809, this pair ranks #97,938 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of blur vs bolus
Shared letters: blu. Private to "blur": r. Private to "bolus": os.
"blur" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "bolus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blur" for "bolus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "blur" vs "bolus" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "blur" and "bolus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bolus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #97,938 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blur" and "bolus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes vs bolus". 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 #97,938 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.