bu vs but, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“bu” is an adjective and “but” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,636
“bu” frequency rank: #423
“but” frequency rank: 6059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	bu	but
Definition	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).	Objectif, cible.

Letter map: bu vs but

Shared letters muted; letters that set bu and but apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch

3 ch

but

Grammar separator: bu vs but

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bu is anadjective and butanoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bu” sits inside “but”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bu is recorded at frequency rank #5,636, classified as anadj. 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 6059, this pair ranks #427,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bu vs but

Shared letters: bu. Private to "bu": -. Private to "but": t.

"bu" · 2 letters · shape CV · "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bu" for "but" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bu" is an adjective and "but" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "bu" or "but"?

"but" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #423 in our French list, against #5,636 for "bu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "bu" and "but". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "bu" 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 #427,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"bu" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bu vs bury". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #427,299 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.