blursvsbussWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,815
“blurs” frequency rank
#35,640
“buss” frequency rank
81455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blurs buss
Definition plural of blur A kiss.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set blurs and buss apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
blurs
4 ch
buss

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. blurs (/blɜːz/) and buss (/bʌs/) 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 81455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blurs is recorded at frequency rank #45,815, classified as anoun, pronounced /blɜːz/. buss is at rank #35,640, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bʌs/.

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 81455, this pair ranks #17,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of blurs vs buss

Shared letters: bsu. Private to "blurs": lr. Private to "buss": -.

"blurs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "buss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blursbblurs · bllurs · blrus · blurrs · blurss · blusr · bulrs · lburs
  • bussbbuss · bsus · ubss

Frequency comparison

blurs#45,815
buss#35,640

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blurs" and "buss" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/blɜːz/ versus /bʌs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "blurs" or "buss"?
"buss" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,640 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 blurs vs buss

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 “blurs” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list