Which to use
“bolts” and “bonds” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,554
- “bolts” frequency rank
- #4,507
- “bonds” frequency rank
- 17061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bolts | bonds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bolt | plural of bond |
Where the eye mixes bolts and bonds
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. bolts (/bəʊlts/) and bonds (/bɑndz/) 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 17061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bolts is recorded at frequency rank #12,554, classified as anoun, pronounced /bəʊlts/. bonds is at rank #4,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɑndz/.
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 17061, this pair ranks #453,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bolts vs bonds
Shared letters: bos. Private to "bolts": lt. Private to "bonds": dn.
"bolts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "bonds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC