brunvsbutWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

“brun” is an adjective and “but” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,026
“brun” frequency rank
#6,402
“but” frequency rank
54428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brun but
Definition braun aber

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set brun and but apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
brun
3 ch
but

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: brun is anadjective and butaconjunction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brun is recorded at frequency rank #48,026, 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 54428, this pair ranks #1,019,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brun vs but

Shared letters: bu. Private to "brun": nr. Private to "but": t.

"brun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brunbbrun · brnu · brrun · brunn · rbun

Frequency comparison

brun#48,026
but#6,402

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brun" and "but" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "brun" is an adjective and "but" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "brun" or "but"?
"but" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,402 in our German list, against #48,026 for "brun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering brun vs but

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “brun”; for a conjunction, it's “but”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “brun” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list