Which to use
“bent” and “but” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,668
- “bent” frequency rank
- #423
- “but” frequency rank
- 40091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bent | but |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Type de bicyclette sur laquelle on pédale couché sur le dos. | Objectif, cible. |
Where the eye mixes bent and but
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bent with but
A purely visual mix-up. bent (\bɛnt\) and but (\byt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bent is recorded at frequency rank #39,668, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛnt\. but is at rank #423, tagged as anoun, pronounced \byt\.
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 40091, this pair ranks #243,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bent vs but
Shared letters: bt. Private to "bent": en. Private to "but": u.
"bent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bent ← bbent · bennt · bentt · betn · bnet · ebnt
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bent" and "but" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "bent" or "but"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bent" 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 #243,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bent" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bent vs ber". 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 #243,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.