bush

/bʊʃ/

//bʊʃ// noun

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

"bush" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bush” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,043. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,043
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bush · bush · English

bush · rank #3,043 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,043
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH BC

Nearest frequency peer: BC (-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 “bush”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “bush” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

bush vs but
50% similar
bush vs buy
50% similar
bush vs busy
75% similar

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

Key facts for bush
PropertyValue
Headwordbush
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bʊʃ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,043
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “bush”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).bushlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “BC” (#3,042), “cabinet” (#3,044), “barely” (#3,041). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bush” is #3,043. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around bush (IPA /bʊʃ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,043 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for bush, with forms such as "bbush", "bsuh", and "buhs". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "but", "buy", "busy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque. Cognates … The correct English form is bush, spelled B-U-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.
  2. 2
    A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.
  3. 3
    A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
  4. 4
    A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.
  5. 5
    The tail, or brush, of a fox.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  2. bushes to support pea vines

Etymology

From Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Busk (“bush”), West Frisian bosk (“forest”), Dutch bos, bosch (“forest, wood”), German Busch (“bush, shrub; small forest, grove”), Luxembourgish Bësch (“forest, wood”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk busk (“bush, shrub”), Icelandic buski (“bush, shrub”), Swedish buske (“bush, shrub”), Persian بیشه (bêša/biše, “woods”). Latin and Romance forms (Latin boscus, Occitan bòsc, French bois, bûche and buisson, Italian bosco and boscaglia, Spanish bosque, Portuguese bosque) derive from the Germanic. Compare typologically Russian за́росли (zárosli) (akin to расти́ (rastí)). Also compare Russian быльё (bylʹjó) (distantly cognate via *bʰuH-).

This word in other languages

arbusto(Español)buisson(Français)Strauch(Deutsch)arbusto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbush
  • bsuh
  • buhs
  • bushh
  • bussh
  • ubsh

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bush - 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.

bbush1bsuh2buhs2bushh1bussh1ubsh2
Edit distance from "bush"

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 "bush"?
"bush" is spelled B-U-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is /bʊʃ/.
What does "bush" mean?
As a noun, "bush" means: A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.
What words are commonly confused with "bush"?
"bush" is commonly confused with "but", "buy", "busy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bush"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bush" is /bʊʃ/. 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 "bush"?
From Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque.... 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 "bush", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

coal#3,048eric#3,055sons#3,028hunt#3,065

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

inch6 variantsporn6 variantsjury6 variantsKong6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list