Which to use
“bodes” and “bolus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,094
- “bodes” frequency rank
- #46,942
- “bolus” frequency rank
- 95036
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bodes | bolus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bode | A round mass of something, especially of chewed food in the mouth or alimentary canal. |
Where the eye mixes bodes and bolus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bodes and bolus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: bodes vs bolus
A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bolus (/ˈbəʊləs/) 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 95036, 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/. 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 95036, this pair ranks #1,105 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bolus
Shared letters: bos. Private to "bodes": de. Private to "bolus": lu.
"bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "bolus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bodes" and "bolus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bodes" or "bolus"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bodes" 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 #1,105 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bodes" and "bolus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes 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 #1,105 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.