Which to use
“bolted” and “butted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,857
- “bolted” frequency rank
- #48,109
- “butted” frequency rank
- 68966
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bolted | butted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of bolt | simple past and past participle of butt |
Where the eye mixes bolted and butted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bolted vs butted
A purely visual mix-up. bolted (/ˈbəʊltɪd/) and butted (/ˈbʌtɪd/) 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 68966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bolted is recorded at frequency rank #20,857, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbəʊltɪd/. butted is at rank #48,109, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbʌtɪd/.
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 68966, this pair ranks #56,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bolted vs butted
Shared letters: bdet. Private to "bolted": lo. Private to "butted": u.
"bolted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "butted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bolted" for "butted" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bolted" vs "butted" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bolted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "butted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bolted" and "butted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buoyed vs butted". 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 #56,602 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.