Which to use
“butcher” and “butcher's” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,340
- “butcher” frequency rank
- #36,060
- “butcher's” frequency rank
- 46400
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | butcher | butcher's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals). | Synonym of butchershop. |
Where the eye mixes butcher and butcher's
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. butcher runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against butcher's's 8 (CVCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: butcher vs butcher's
A purely visual mix-up. butcher (/ˈbʊt͡ʃə/) and butcher's (/ˈbʊtʃə(ɹ)z/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “butcher” sits inside “butcher's”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
butcher is recorded at frequency rank #10,340, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbʊt͡ʃə/. butcher's is at rank #36,060, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbʊtʃə(ɹ)z/.
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 46400, this pair ranks #212,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of butcher vs butcher's
Shared letters: bcehrtu. Private to "butcher": -. Private to "butcher's": s.
"butcher" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "butcher's" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- butcher ← bbutcher · btucher · bucther · butccher · butcehr · butcherr · butchher · butchre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "butcher" and "butcher's" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "butcher" or "butcher's" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "butcher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "butcher's" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "butcher" and "butcher's" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "butcher's vs butchery". 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 #212,106 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.