BuivsbutWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Bui is a name, but is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#48,638
“Bui” frequency rank
#25
“but” frequency rank
48663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bui but
Definition A surname. Apart from, except (for), excluding.

Letter map: Bui vs but

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

3 ch
Bui
3 ch
but

Role in the sentence - Bui and but

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Bui is aname and butapreposition. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “Bui” becomes t in “but”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bui is recorded at frequency rank #48,638, classified as aname. 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 48663, this pair ranks #190,905 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Bui vs but

Shared letters: bu. Private to "Bui": i. Private to "but": t.

"Bui" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bui" and "but" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Bui" is a name and "but" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Bui" vs "but" - which ranks higher?
"but" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25 in our English list, against #48,638 for "Bui". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Bui" and "but".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bui" 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 #190,905 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bui" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs Bui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #190,905 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list