Which to use
“bluff” and “blurs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,288
- “bluff” frequency rank
- #45,815
- “blurs” frequency rank
- 59103
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bluff | blurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An act of bluffing; a false expression of the strength of one’s position in order to intimidate or deceive; braggadocio. | plural of blur |
Where the eye mixes bluff and blurs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bluff with blurs
A purely visual mix-up. bluff (/blʌf/) and blurs (/blɜːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bluff is recorded at frequency rank #13,288, classified as anoun, pronounced /blʌf/. blurs is at rank #45,815, tagged as anoun, pronounced /blɜːz/.
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 59103, this pair ranks #108,300 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bluff vs blurs
Shared letters: blu. Private to "bluff": f. Private to "blurs": rs.
"bluff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "blurs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bluff" for "blurs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bluff" vs "blurs" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bluff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,300 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bluff" and "blurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blurs vs bursa". 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 #108,300 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.