bluffs vs blurs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“bluffs” and “blurs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,844
“bluffs” frequency rank: #45,815
“blurs” frequency rank: 74659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	bluffs	blurs
Definition	plural of bluff	plural of blur

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bluffs and blurs apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

bluffs

5 ch

blurs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bluffs (/blʌfs/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bluffs is recorded at frequency rank #28,844, classified as anoun, pronounced /blʌfs/. 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 74659, this pair ranks #35,653 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bluffs vs blurs

Shared letters: blsu. Private to "bluffs": f. Private to "blurs": r.

"bluffs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "blurs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

bluffs ← bbluffs · blfufs · blluffs · bluffss · blufs · blufsf · bulffs · lbuffs
blurs ← bblurs · bllurs · blrus · blurrs · blurss · blusr · bulrs · lburs

Frequency comparison

bluffs#28,844

blurs#45,815

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bluffs" and "blurs" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/blʌfs/ versus /blɜːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "bluffs" or "blurs"?

"bluffs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,844 in our English list, against #45,815 for "blurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bluffs vs blurs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bluffs” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable