Which to use
“bold” is an adjective and “bolus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,579
- “bold” frequency rank
- #46,942
- “bolus” frequency rank
- 51521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bold | bolus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Courageous, daring. | A round mass of something, especially of chewed food in the mouth or alimentary canal. |
Where the eye mixes bold and bolus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bold runs 4 letters (CVCC) against bolus's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bold with bolus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bold is /ˈbəʊld/ while bolus is /ˈbəʊləs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bold is recorded at frequency rank #4,579, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈbəʊld/. bolus is at rank #46,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbəʊləs/.
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 51521, this pair ranks #164,768 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bold vs bolus
Shared letters: blo. Private to "bold": d. Private to "bolus": su.
"bold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bolus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bold" for "bolus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bold" or "bolus"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bolus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,768 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bold" and "bolus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bodes vs bolus". 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 #164,768 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.