Which to use
“ban” is a noun and “bu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,466
- “ban” frequency rank
- #5,636
- “bu” frequency rank
- 12102
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ban | bu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Proclamation pour ordonner ou défendre quelque chose. | Absorbé, en parlant d’un liquide ou de sentiment (les sentiments étaient autrefois considérés comme des humeurs, au sens propre de quelque chose d’humide). |
Letter map: ban vs bu
Shared letters muted; letters that set ban and bu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for ban / bu
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ban is anoun and buanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12102, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ban is recorded at frequency rank #6,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɑ̃\. bu is at rank #5,636, tagged as anadj.
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 12102, this pair ranks #406,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ban vs bu
Shared letters: b. Private to "ban": an. Private to "bu": u.
"ban" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "bu" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ban" and "bu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ban" or "bu"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "ban" and "bu". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "ban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ban" and "bu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ban vs ber". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #406,572 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.