Which to use
“bodes” and “bone” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,094
- “bodes” frequency rank
- #3,148
- “bone” frequency rank
- 51242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bodes | bone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bode | A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates. |
Where the eye mixes bodes and bone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bodes with bone
A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bone (/bəʊn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51242, 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/. bone is at rank #3,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bəʊn/.
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 51242, this pair ranks #167,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bone
Shared letters: beo. Private to "bodes": ds. Private to "bone": n.
"bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "bone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bodes" and "bone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bodes" or "bone"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bodes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #167,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bodes" and "bone" 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 #167,115 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.