bodesvsbondsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,094
“bodes” frequency rank
#4,507
“bonds” frequency rank
52601
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bodes bonds
Definition plural of bode plural of bond

Where the eye mixes bodes and bonds

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

5 ch
bodes
5 ch
bonds

Look-alike desk: bodes vs bonds

A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bonds (/bɑndz/) 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 52601, 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/. bonds is at rank #4,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɑndz/.

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 52601, this pair ranks #155,711 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bonds

Shared letters: bdos. Private to "bodes": e. Private to "bonds": n.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodesbbodes · bdoes · boddes · bodess · bodse · boeds · obdes
  • bondsbbonds · bnods · bodns · bondds · bondss · bonnds · bonsd · obnds

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bodes" for "bonds" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bəʊdz/ versus /bɑndz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bodes" vs "bonds" - which ranks higher?
"bonds" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,507 in our English list, against #48,094 for "bodes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bodes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bonds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,711 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bodes" and "bonds" 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 #155,711 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