bodesvsboltsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,094
“bodes” frequency rank
#12,554
“bolts” frequency rank
60648
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bodes bolts
Definition plural of bode plural of bolt

Where the eye mixes bodes and bolts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bodes
5 ch
bolts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bolts (/bəʊlts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bodes is recorded at frequency rank #48,094, classified as anoun, pronounced /bəʊdz/. bolts is at rank #12,554, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bəʊlts/.

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 60648, this pair ranks #98,983 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bolts

Shared letters: bos. Private to "bodes": de. Private to "bolts": lt.

"bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bolts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodesbbodes · bdoes · boddes · bodess · bodse · boeds · obdes
  • boltsbbolts · blots · bollts · bolst · boltss · boltts · botls · oblts

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bodes" and "bolts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/bəʊdz/ versus /bəʊlts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bodes" or "bolts"?
"bolts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,554 in our English list, against #48,094 for "bodes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list