Which to use
“but” is a preposition and “butts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25
- “but” frequency rank
- #14,287
- “butts” frequency rank
- 14312
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | but | butts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Apart from, except (for), excluding. | plural of butt |
Where the eye mixes but and butts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between but and butts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: but is /ˈbʌt/ while butts is /bʌts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “but” sits inside “butts”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
but is recorded at frequency rank #25, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈbʌt/. butts is at rank #14,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bʌts/.
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 14312, this pair ranks #470,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of but vs butts
Shared letters: btu. Private to "but": -. Private to "butts": s.
"but" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "butts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- butts ← bbutts · btuts · butst · buttss · ubtts
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "but" and "butts" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "but" vs "butts" - 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 "but" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "butts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #470,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "but" and "butts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "batt vs butts". 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 #470,801 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.