Which to use
“bath” is a noun and “but” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,361
- “bath” frequency rank
- #11,178
- “but” frequency rank
- 57539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bath | but |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Baño. | Muy. |
Where the eye mixes bath and but
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bath with but
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bath is /bɑːθ/ while but is [ˈbut̪]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bath is recorded at frequency rank #46,361, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɑːθ/. but is at rank #11,178, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈbut̪].
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 57539, this pair ranks #70,111 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bath vs but
Shared letters: bt. Private to "bath": ah. Private to "but": u.
"bath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bath ← abth · baht · bathh · batth · bbath · btah · vath
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bath" for "but" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bath" or "but"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bath" and "but" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "but" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,111 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bath" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bane vs bath". 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 #70,111 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.