BeutevsbutTell them apart

Quick tell: Beute is a noun, but is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Beute” is a noun and “but” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,151
“Beute” frequency rank
#6,402
“but” frequency rank
11553
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beute but
Definition durch Diebstahl, Raub oder Plünderung angeeignete Güter aber

Where the eye mixes Beute and but

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Beute
3 ch
but

Look-alike desk: Beute vs but

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Beute is [ˈbɔɪ̯tə] while but is [bʌt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Beute is recorded at frequency rank #5,151, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɔɪ̯tə]. but is at rank #6,402, tagged as aconj, pronounced [bʌt].

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 11553, this pair ranks #1,969,263 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Beute vs but

Shared letters: btu. Private to "Beute": e. Private to "but": -.

"Beute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Beutebbeute · betue · beuet · beutte · buete · ebute

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Beute" for "but" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Beute" is a noun and "but" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Beute" or "but" show up more?
"Beute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,151 in our German list, against #6,402 for "but". 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 "Beute" and "but" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Beute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "but" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,263 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Beute" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bic vs but". 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 #1,969,263 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list