Which to use
“both” is an adjective and “but” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,111
- “both” frequency rank
- #6,402
- “but” frequency rank
- 34513
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | both | but |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | beide | aber |
Letter map: both vs but
Shared letters muted; letters that set both and but apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for both / but
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: both is anadjective and butaconjunction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
both is recorded at frequency rank #28,111, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. 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 34513, this pair ranks #1,661,655 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of both vs but
Shared letters: bt. Private to "both": ho. Private to "but": u.
"both" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- both ← bboth · boht · bothh · botth · btoh · obth
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "both" and "but" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "both" or "but"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "both" and "but".
- Full dictionary entry for "both" 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 #1,661,655 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "both" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "both vs puzzles". 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 #1,661,655 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.