buts

\byt\

/\byt\/ noun

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

The verdict

“buts” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,471. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,471
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pluriel de but.

Corpus desk

Index FR-buts · buts · French

buts · rank #1,471 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,471
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH bleu

Nearest frequency peer: bleu (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « buts »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « buts » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

buts vs buy
50% similar
buts vs buzz
50% similar
buts vs Butt
50% similar

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

Key facts for buts
PropertyValue
Headwordbuts
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\byt\
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,471
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « buts »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.butsse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « bleu » (#1,470), « champ » (#1,472), « beauté » (#1,469). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « buts » est au #1,471. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around buts (IPA \byt\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,471 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Pluriel de but.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for buts, with forms such as "bbuts", "btus", and "bust". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "buy", "buzz", "Butt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is buts, spelled B-U-T-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pluriel de but.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. les ^([sic : Les]) théologues sunnites essayèrent d’expliquer la raison d’être de l’institution califale, quels buts vise-t-elle a ^([sic : à]) servir, quelles sont les qualifications qui devraient être requises pour pouvoir prétendre a ^([sic : à]) cet office et qu’est ce ^([sic : qu’est-ce]) qui détermine les obligations des sujets.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbuts
  • btus
  • bust
  • butss
  • butts
  • ubts

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

bbuts1btus2bust2butss1butts1ubts2
Edit distance from "buts"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "buts"?
"buts" is spelled B-U-T-S. The IPA pronunciation is \byt\.
What does "buts" mean?
As a noun, "buts" means: Pluriel de but.
What words are commonly confused with "buts"?
"buts" is commonly confused with "buy", "buzz", "Butt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "buts"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "buts" is \byt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "buts" come from?
"buts" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

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

bleu#1,470aimé#1,466pont#1,452sexe#1,496

Similar misspelling depth

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

voire6 variantstirer6 variantsmets6 variantschat6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list