bodevsBONConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#27,746
“bode” frequency rank
#10,993
“BON” frequency rank
38739
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bode BON
Definition To indicate by signs, as future events; to be an omen of; to portend or foretell. Initialism of business object notation, notation for high-level object-oriented analysis.

Letter map: bode vs BON

Shared letters muted; letters that set bode and BON apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
bode
3 ch
BON

Grammar separator: bode vs BON

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bode is averb and BONanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38739, 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/. BON is at rank #10,993, tagged as anoun.

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 38739, this pair ranks #283,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bode vs BON

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bode": de. Private to "BON": n.

"bode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "BON" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodebbode · bdoe · bodde · obde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bode" for "BON" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bode" is a verb and "BON" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "bode" or "BON" show up more?
"BON" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,993 in our English list, against #27,746 for "bode". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bode" and "BON".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "BON" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bode" and "BON" 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 #283,205 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