bullsvsbussWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,423
“bulls” frequency rank
#35,640
“buss” frequency rank
43063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bulls buss
Definition plural of bull A kiss.

Where the eye mixes bulls and buss

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bulls runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against buss's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
bulls
4 ch
buss

Visual trap between bulls and buss

A purely visual mix-up. bulls (/bʊlz/) 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 43063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bulls is recorded at frequency rank #7,423, classified as anoun, pronounced /bʊlz/. 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 43063, this pair ranks #243,559 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bulls vs buss

Shared letters: bsu. Private to "bulls": l. Private to "buss": -.

"bulls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "buss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bulls ← bbulls · bluls · bullss · buls · bulsl · ublls
  • buss ← bbuss · bsus · ubss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bulls" and "buss" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/bʊlz/ versus /bʌs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bulls" vs "buss" - which ranks higher?
"bulls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,423 in our English list, against #35,640 for "buss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bulls" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "buss" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,559 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bulls" and "buss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs buss". 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 #243,559 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