buoy
/ˈbɔɪ/noun, verb
buoy is spelled B-U-O-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is bouy: about 1,520 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 3 in 10 of all searches for the word. Buoy is a noun meaning “A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other…”. The plural of buoy is buoys.
How many letters and syllables are in buoy?
| Letters | 4: B-U-O-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words; the 28,918th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, bouy, about 1,520 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell buoy?
Buoy is spelled B-U-O-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 3 in 10 of the searches for buoy in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is buoy?
Buoy appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce buoy?
- UK /ˈbɔɪ/
- British /ˈboj/
- Australia /ˈboɪ/
Buoy has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-buoy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with buoy
Sounds like: boy (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with buoy?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as buoy from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɪ/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of buoy
- buoys plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- buoying participle, present
- buoyed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does buoy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
- 2
A lifebuoy; a life preserver.
- 3
A sign where the non-dominant hand is held in a stationary configuration as a landmark for meaning associations with the dominant hand.
list buoy
verb
- 1
To keep afloat or aloft; used with up.
- 2
To support or maintain at a high level.
- 3
To mark with a buoy.
to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel
- 4
To maintain or enhance enthusiasm or confidence; to lift the spirits of.
Buoyed by the huge success, they announced two other projects.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Buoy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bouée, flotteur, balise , surnager |
| German | Boje, Tonne , aufbojen, flott erhalten, auf der Wasseroberfläche halten, über Wasser halten |
| Portuguese | boia , sustentar |
| Spanish | boya , aboyar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does buoy come from?
From Middle English boy, boye, from Middle Dutch boeye (“float, buoy”), from Old French boue (“piece of wood or cork that floats above an anchor to indicate where it is anchored”) (modern French bouée), ultimately from Frankish *baukn (“beacon”), from Proto-Germanic *baukną. Doublet of beacon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).