BürovsBusTell them apart

Which to use

“Büro” and “Bus” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,588
“Büro” frequency rank
#1,626
“Bus” frequency rank
3214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Büro Bus
Definition Dienststelle oder Geschäftsräume, wo schriftliche oder verwaltende Arbeiten erledigt werden als Verkehrsmittel im öffentlichen Personennahverkehr eingesetztes vielsitziges, großes Kraftfahrzeug zur Beförderung einer größeren Anzahl von Personen

Where the eye mixes Büro and Bus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Büro runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Bus's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Büro
3 ch
Bus

Look-alike desk: Büro vs Bus

A purely visual mix-up. Büro ([byˈʁoː]) and Bus ([bʊs]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Büro is recorded at frequency rank #1,588, classified as anoun, pronounced [byˈʁoː]. Bus is at rank #1,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bʊs].

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 3214, this pair ranks #2,000,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Büro vs Bus

Shared letters: b. Private to "Büro": orü. Private to "Bus": su.

"Büro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Bus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Büro" and "Bus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([byˈʁoː] versus [bʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Büro" or "Bus"?
"Büro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,588 in our German list, against #1,626 for "Bus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Büro" and "Bus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Büro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Büro" and "Bus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bus vs Bussi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,000,693 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