BTW vs but, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“BTW” is a prep_phrase and “but” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,443
“BTW” frequency rank: #25
“but” frequency rank: 6468
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	BTW	but
Definition	Initialism of by the way.	Apart from, except (for), excluding.

Letter map: BTW vs but

Shared letters muted; letters that set BTW and but apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch

BTW

3 ch

but

Grammar separator: BTW vs but

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: BTW is aprep_phrase and butapreposition. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

BTW is recorded at frequency rank #6,443, classified as aprep_phrase. but is at rank #25, tagged as aprep, pronounced /ˈbʌt/.

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 6468, this pair ranks #511,296 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of BTW vs but

Shared letters: bt. Private to "BTW": w. Private to "but": u.

"BTW" · 3 letters · shape CCC · "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "BTW" and "but" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "BTW" is a prep_phrase and "but" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary English text, does "BTW" or "but" show up more?

"but" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25 in our English list, against #6,443 for "BTW". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "BTW" vs "but" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "BTW" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "but" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #511,296 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"BTW" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs BTW". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #511,296 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.