BusvsBusseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,626
“Bus” frequency rank
#4,870
“Busse” frequency rank
6496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bus Busse
Definition als Verkehrsmittel im öffentlichen Personennahverkehr eingesetztes vielsitziges, großes Kraftfahrzeug zur Beförderung einer größeren Anzahl von Personen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bus

Where the eye mixes Bus and Busse

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

3 ch
Bus
5 ch
Busse

Visual trap between Bus and Busse

A purely visual mix-up. Bus ([bʊs]) and Busse ([ˈbʊsə]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Bus” sits inside “Busse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bus is recorded at frequency rank #1,626, classified as anoun, pronounced [bʊs]. Busse is at rank #4,870, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʊsə].

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 6496, this pair ranks #1,991,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bus vs Busse

Shared letters: bsu. Private to "Bus": -. Private to "Busse": e.

"Bus" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Busse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bussebbusse · bsuse · buse · buses · buße · ubsse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bus" and "Busse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bʊs] versus [ˈbʊsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Bus" vs "Busse" - which ranks higher?
"Bus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,626 in our German list, against #4,870 for "Busse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Busse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bus" and "Busse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Busse vs Bussi". 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 #1,991,444 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