Which to use
“bd” is a noun and “by” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,107
- “bd” frequency rank
- #24
- “by” frequency rank
- 15131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bd | by |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abbreviation of boulevard. | Near or next to. |
Letter map: bd vs by
Shared letters muted; letters that set bd and by apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for bd / by
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bd is anoun and byapreposition. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “bd” becomes y in “by”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bd is recorded at frequency rank #15,107, classified as anoun. by is at rank #24, tagged as aprep, pronounced /baɪ/.
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 15131, this pair ranks #465,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bd vs by
Shared letters: b. Private to "bd": d. Private to "by": y.
"bd" · 2 letters · shape CC · "by" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bd" and "by" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bd" vs "by" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "bd" vs "by" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "bd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "by" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #465,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bd" and "by" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bd vs BFS". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #465,864 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.