buoy
/ˈbɔɪ/
"buoy" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“buoy” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #28,856. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #28,856
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
Corpus desk
Index EN-buoy · buoy · English
buoy · rank #28,856 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #28,856
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bugger
Nearest frequency peer: bugger (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “buoy”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- BRB
BRB
71,150 corpus weight
- breasted
breasted
71,149 corpus weight
- bugger
bugger
71,146 corpus weight
- buoy
buoy
71,145 corpus weight
- campaigner
campaigner
71,143 corpus weight
- capes
capes
71,141 corpus weight
What this shows “buoy” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | buoy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɔɪ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #28,856 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “buoy”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around buoy (IPA /ˈbɔɪ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #28,856 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for buoy, with forms such as "bbuoy", "bouy", and "buoyy". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "but", "buy", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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”). Doublet of… The correct English form is buoy, spelled B-U-O-Y.
Definition
- 1A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
- 2A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
- 3A sign where the non-dominant hand is held in a stationary configuration as a landmark for meaning associations with the dominant hand.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how buoy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
While comm buoys allow rapid transmission, there is a finite amount of bandwidth available. Given that trillions of people may be trying to pass a message through a given buoy at any one time, access to the network is parceled out on priority tiers.
Texas began deploying chains of specially designed buoys down the middle of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass to deter migrants from crossing illegally in June 2023, sparking protests from migrant activists and from the Mexican government.
Etymology
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”). Doublet of beacon. Same root as English bon in bonfire. Alternatively, and perhaps less likely (due to the unexplained shift in meaning), from Middle Dutch boeye (“shackle, fetter”), from Old French buie (“fetter, chain”), from Latin boia (“a (leather) collar, band, fetter”), from Ancient Greek βόεος (bóeos), βόειος (bóeios, “of ox-hide”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”). Noun sense 2 was coined by American linguist Scott K. Lindell in 2003.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bbuoy
- bouy
- buoyy
- buyo
- uboy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of buoy - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "buoy"?
What does "buoy" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "buoy"?
How do you pronounce "buoy"?
What is the origin of the word "buoy"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "buoy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).