Which to use
“bites” and “bute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,866
- “bites” frequency rank
- #13,983
- “bute” frequency rank
- 28849
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bites | bute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bite. | Instrument de maréchal-ferrant qui sert à couper la corne des sabots des chevaux. |
Where the eye mixes bites and bute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bites and bute
A purely visual mix-up. bites (\bit\) and bute (\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 28849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bites is recorded at frequency rank #14,866, classified as anoun, pronounced \bit\. bute is at rank #13,983, 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 28849, this pair ranks #320,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bites vs bute
Shared letters: bet. Private to "bites": is. Private to "bute": u.
"bites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "bute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bites" for "bute" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bites" vs "bute" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bites" and "bute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bites" and "bute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bury vs bute". 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 #320,285 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.