Which to use
“bugs” and “buys” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,661
- “bugs” frequency rank
- #7,892
- “buys” frequency rank
- 14553
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bugs | buys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bug | plural of buy |
Where the eye mixes bugs and buys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bugs vs buys
A purely visual mix-up. bugs (/bʌɡz/) and buys (/baɪz/) 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 a single letter - g in “bugs” becomes y in “buys”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bugs is recorded at frequency rank #6,661, classified as anoun, pronounced /bʌɡz/. buys is at rank #7,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /baɪz/.
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 14553, this pair ranks #469,338 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bugs vs buys
Shared letters: bsu. Private to "bugs": g. Private to "buys": y.
"bugs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "buys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bugs" and "buys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bugs" or "buys"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bugs" and "buys" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bugs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #469,338 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bugs" and "buys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs buys". 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 #469,338 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.