bus

/bʌs/

//bʌs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"bus" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bus” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,554) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,554
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bus · bus · English

bus · rank #1,554 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,554
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH brand

Nearest frequency peer: brand (-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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “bus”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “bus” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bus vs by
33% similar
bus vs BW
0% similar
bus vs BX
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bus
PropertyValue
Headwordbus
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bʌs/
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,554
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “bus”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).buslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “brand” (#1,553), “cent” (#1,555), “becomes” (#1,552). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bus” is #1,554. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bus is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "BW", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bʌs/. Frequency #1,554 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 8 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

bus has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BW", "BX", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift in spelli… The correct English form is bus, spelled B-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
  2. 2
    A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
  3. 3
    Any motorized vehicle, such as a motorbike or car.
  4. 4
    An electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.
  5. 5
    Part of a MIRV missile, having on-board motors used to deliver the warhead to a target.
  6. 6
    An ambulance.
  7. 7
    An aeroplane.
  8. 8
    A network topology with each computer connected to a single cable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “Excuse me,” said the stranger, who turned out to be a youth in motorcycling kit, “but could you give me a hand with my bus?”
  2. It had to be something with only two cylinders, if the whole ignition was to be put out of action with one needle: that is, a Morgan, a Belsize-Bradshaw, or a motorbike. He probably avoided the bike on the grounds of exposure to weather, and chose the Morgan as the next most handy and numerous two-cylinder ’bus.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift in spelling likely reflects the fact that modern speakers no longer perceive this term as a clipping. The electrical sense is derived from figurative application of the automotive sense.

This word in other languages

autobús(Español)autobus(Français)Bus(Deutsch)ônibus(Português)

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 "bus"?
"bus" is spelled B-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /bʌs/.
What does "bus" mean?
As a noun, "bus" means: A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
What words are commonly confused with "bus"?
"bus" is commonly confused with "by", "BW", "BX". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bus" is /bʌs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bus"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

1st#1,549sad#1,536lie#1,530tom#1,582

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list