Which to use
“bodes” and “bones” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,094
- “bodes” frequency rank
- #4,141
- “bones” frequency rank
- 52235
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bodes | bones |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bode | plural of bone |
Where the eye mixes bodes and bones
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bodes and bones
A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bones (/bəʊnz/) 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 a single letter - d in “bodes” becomes n in “bones”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52235, 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/. bones is at rank #4,141, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bəʊnz/.
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 52235, this pair ranks #158,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bones
Shared letters: beos. Private to "bodes": d. Private to "bones": n.
"bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "bones" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bodes" and "bones" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "bodes" or "bones" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "bodes" and "bones" 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 "bones" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bodes" and "bones" 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 #158,754 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.