bodevsbodiesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bode is a verb, bodies is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bode” is a verb and “bodies” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,746
“bode” frequency rank
#2,064
“bodies” frequency rank
29810
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bode bodies
Definition To indicate by signs, as future events; to be an omen of; to portend or foretell. plural of body.

Where the eye mixes bode and bodies

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

4 ch
bode
6 ch
bodies

Visual trap between bode and bodies

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bode is /bəʊd/ while bodies is /ˈbɒd.iz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 29810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bode is recorded at frequency rank #27,746, classified as averb, pronounced /bəʊd/. bodies is at rank #2,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɒd.iz/.

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 29810, this pair ranks #359,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bode vs bodies

Shared letters: bdeo. Private to "bode": -. Private to "bodies": is.

"bode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bodies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodebbode · bdoe · bodde · obde
  • bodiesbbodies · bdoies · boddies · bodeis · bodiess · bodise · boides · obdies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bode" and "bodies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bode" is a verb and "bodies" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bode" or "bodies"?
"bodies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,064 in our English list, against #27,746 for "bode". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bodies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #359,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bode" and "bodies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bode vs Bodie". 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 #359,825 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