bodesvsbytesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#48,094
“bodes” frequency rank
#20,578
“bytes” frequency rank
68672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bodes bytes
Definition plural of bode plural of byte

Where the eye mixes bodes and bytes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bodes and bytes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
bodes
5 ch
bytes

Look-alike desk: bodes vs bytes

A purely visual mix-up. bodes (/bəʊdz/) and bytes (/baɪts/) 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 68672, 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/. bytes is at rank #20,578, tagged as anoun, pronounced /baɪts/.

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 68672, this pair ranks #57,842 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bodes vs bytes

Shared letters: bes. Private to "bodes": do. Private to "bytes": ty.

"bodes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bytes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodes ← bbodes · bdoes · boddes · bodess · bodse · boeds · obdes
  • bytes ← bbytes · btyes · byets · bytess · bytse · byttes · byytes · ybtes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bodes" and "bytes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bəʊdz/ versus /baɪts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bodes" vs "bytes" - which ranks higher?
"bytes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,578 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "bodes" and "bytes" 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 "bytes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,842 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bodes" and "bytes" 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 #57,842 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