Which to use
“bois” and “buts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #576
- “bois” frequency rank
- #1,471
- “buts” frequency rank
- 2047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bois | buts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Substance dure et fibreuse des arbres. | Pluriel de but. |
Where the eye mixes bois and buts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bois and buts
A purely visual mix-up. bois (\bwɑ\) and buts (\byt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bois is recorded at frequency rank #576, classified as anoun, pronounced \bwɑ\. buts is at rank #1,471, 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 2047, this pair ranks #436,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bois vs buts
Shared letters: bs. Private to "bois": io. Private to "buts": tu.
"bois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "buts" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bois" for "buts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bois" vs "buts" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bois" and "buts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bury vs buts". 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 #436,871 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.