Which to use
“bund” and “buoy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,229
- “bund” frequency rank
- #28,856
- “buoy” frequency rank
- 68085
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bund | buoy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A league or confederacy; especially the confederation of German states. | A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes |
Where the eye mixes bund and buoy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bund (CVCC) and buoy (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: bund vs buoy
A purely visual mix-up. bund (/bʊnd/) and buoy (/ˈbɔɪ/) 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 68085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bund is recorded at frequency rank #39,229, classified as anoun, pronounced /bʊnd/. buoy is at rank #28,856, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔɪ/.
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 68085, this pair ranks #60,487 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bund vs buoy
Shared letters: bu. Private to "bund": dn. Private to "buoy": oy.
"bund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "buoy" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bund" and "buoy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bund" or "buoy"?
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 "bund" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buoy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,487 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bund" and "buoy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bendy vs bund". 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 #60,487 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.