bodiedvsbodilyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,352
“bodied” frequency rank
#9,855
“bodily” frequency rank
25207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bodied bodily
Definition Having a specified form of body. Of, relating to, or concerning the body.

Where the eye mixes bodied and bodily

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bodied (CVCVVC) and bodily (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
bodied
6 ch
bodily

Why the eye confuses bodied with bodily

A purely visual mix-up. bodied (/ˈbɑdid/) and bodily (/ˈbɑdɪli/) 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 25207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bodied is recorded at frequency rank #15,352, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈbɑdid/. bodily is at rank #9,855, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbɑdɪli/.

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 25207, this pair ranks #396,093 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bodied vs bodily

Shared letters: bdio. Private to "bodied": e. Private to "bodily": ly.

"bodied" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "bodily" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bodied ← bbodied · bdoied · boddied · bodeid · bodide · bodiedd · boided · obdied
  • bodily ← bbodily · bdoily · boddily · bodilly · bodilyy · bodiyl · bodliy · boidly

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bodied" and "bodily" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbɑdid/ versus /ˈbɑdɪli/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bodied" vs "bodily" - which ranks higher?
"bodily" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,855 in our English list, against #15,352 for "bodied". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bodied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bodily" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,093 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bodied" and "bodily" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bodie vs bodied". 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 #396,093 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