bravsbutTell them apart

Which to use

“bra” and “but” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,814
“bra” frequency rank
#423
“but” frequency rank
44237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bra but
Definition Soutien-gorge. Objectif, cible.

Where the eye mixes bra and but

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
bra
3 ch
but

Look-alike desk: bra vs but

A purely visual mix-up. bra (\ˈbɹɑ\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bra is recorded at frequency rank #43,814, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈbɹɑ\. 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 44237, this pair ranks #212,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bra vs but

Shared letters: b. Private to "bra": ar. Private to "but": tu.

"bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bra" and "but" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ˈbɹɑ\ versus \byt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "bra" or "but" show up more?
"but" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #423 in our French list, against #43,814 for "bra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "bra" and "but" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bra" 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 #212,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bra" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bra vs bury". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #212,012 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list