but vs by, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25
“but” frequency rank: #24
“by” frequency rank: 49
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	but	by
Definition	Apart from, except (for), excluding.	Near or next to.

Where the eye mixes but and by

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

but

2 ch

Look-alike desk: but vs by

A purely visual mix-up. but (/ˈbʌt/) and by (/baɪ/) 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 49, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

but is recorded at frequency rank #25, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈbʌt/. by is at rank #24, tagged as aprep, pronounced /baɪ/.

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 49, this pair ranks #529,959 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of but vs by

Shared letters: b. Private to "but": tu. Private to "by": y.

"but" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "by" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "but" for "by" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈbʌt/ versus /baɪ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "but" or "by"?

"by" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24 in our English list, against #25 for "but". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "by" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #529,959 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"but" and "by" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs but". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #529,959 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.