bodesvsboutsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,094
“bodes” frequency rank
#22,017
“bouts” frequency rank
70111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bodes bouts
Definition plural of bode plural of bout

Where the eye mixes bodes and bouts

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

5 ch
bodes
5 ch
bouts

Look-alike desk: bodes vs bouts

A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bouts (/ˈbaʊts/) 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 70111, 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/. bouts is at rank #22,017, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaʊts/.

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 70111, this pair ranks #51,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bouts

Shared letters: bos. Private to "bodes": de. Private to "bouts": tu.

"bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bouts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodesbbodes · bdoes · boddes · bodess · bodse · boeds · obdes
  • boutsbbouts · botus · boust · boutss · boutts · buots · obuts

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bodes" for "bouts" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bəʊdz/ versus /ˈbaʊts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bodes" or "bouts"?
"bouts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,017 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bodes" and "bouts" 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 "bouts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bodes" and "bouts" 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 #51,883 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