Which to use
“bunt” and “butt” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,058
- “bunt” frequency rank
- #4,430
- “butt” frequency rank
- 40488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bunt | butt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The middle part, cavity, or belly of a sail; the part of a furled sail which is at the center of the yard. | The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end |
Where the eye mixes bunt and butt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bunt vs butt
A purely visual mix-up. bunt (/bʌnt/) and butt (/bʌt/) 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 - n in “bunt” becomes t in “butt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bunt is recorded at frequency rank #36,058, classified as anoun, pronounced /bʌnt/. butt is at rank #4,430, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bʌt/.
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 40488, this pair ranks #267,111 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bunt vs butt
Shared letters: btu. Private to "bunt": n. Private to "butt": -.
"bunt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "butt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bunt" and "butt" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bunt" vs "butt" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bunt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "butt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,111 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bunt" and "butt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bruni vs bunt". 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 #267,111 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.