boundsvsbundTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,512
“bounds” frequency rank
#39,229
“bund” frequency rank
50741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bounds bund
Definition plural of bound A league or confederacy; especially the confederation of German states.

Where the eye mixes bounds and bund

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bounds runs 6 letters (CVVCCC) against bund's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bounds
4 ch
bund

Look-alike desk: bounds vs bund

A purely visual mix-up. bounds (/baʊndz/) and bund (/bʊnd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bounds is recorded at frequency rank #11,512, classified as anoun, pronounced /baʊndz/. bund is at rank #39,229, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bʊnd/.

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 50741, this pair ranks #171,578 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bounds vs bund

Shared letters: bdnu. Private to "bounds": os. Private to "bund": -.

"bounds" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "bund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bounds ← bbounds · bonuds · boudns · boundds · boundss · bounnds · bounsd · buonds
  • bund ← bbund · bnud · budn · bundd · bunnd · ubnd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bounds" for "bund" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/baʊndz/ versus /bʊnd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "bounds" or "bund" show up more?
"bounds" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,512 in our English list, against #39,229 for "bund". 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 "bounds" and "bund" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bounds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bund" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,578 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bounds" and "bund" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bendy vs bund". 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 #171,578 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