Which to use
“bribed” is a verb and “bribes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,079
- “bribed” frequency rank
- #19,541
- “bribes” frequency rank
- 46620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bribed | bribes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of bribe | plural of bribe |
Where the eye mixes bribed and bribes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bribed and bribes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bribed is /bɹaɪbd/ while bribes is /bɹaɪbz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “bribed” becomes s in “bribes”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bribed is recorded at frequency rank #27,079, classified as averb, pronounced /bɹaɪbd/. bribes is at rank #19,541, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹaɪbz/.
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 46620, this pair ranks #210,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bribed vs bribes
Shared letters: beir. Private to "bribed": d. Private to "bribes": s.
"bribed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "bribes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bribed" for "bribes" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "bribed" or "bribes" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bribed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bribes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bribed" and "bribes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "braved vs bribed". 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 #210,019 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.