Which to use
“butt” is a noun and “butted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,430
- “butt” frequency rank
- #48,109
- “butted” frequency rank
- 52539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | butt | butted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end | simple past and past participle of butt |
Where the eye mixes butt and butted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: butt vs butted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: butt is /bʌt/ while butted is /ˈbʌtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “butt” sits inside “butted”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
butt is recorded at frequency rank #4,430, classified as anoun, pronounced /bʌt/. butted is at rank #48,109, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbʌtɪd/.
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 52539, this pair ranks #156,189 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of butt vs butted
Shared letters: btu. Private to "butt": -. Private to "butted": de.
"butt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "butted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "butt" and "butted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "butt" or "butted" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "butt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "butted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,189 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "butt" and "butted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buoyed vs butted". 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 #156,189 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.