baúvsbutConfusable pair

Quick tell: baú is a noun, but is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“baú” is a noun and “but” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,895
“baú” frequency rank
#7,254
“but” frequency rank
21149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baú but
Definition caixa retangular com tampa convexa e geralmente revestida de couro cru mas, porém, todavia

Letter map: baú vs but

Shared letters muted; letters that set baú and but apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
baú
3 ch
but

Part-of-speech tell for baú / but

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: baú is anoun and butaconjunction. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baú is recorded at frequency rank #13,895, classified as anoun, pronounced /ba.ˈu/. but is at rank #7,254, tagged as aconj.

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 21149, this pair ranks #49,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baú vs but

Shared letters: b. Private to "baú": . Private to "but": tu.

"baú" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "baú" for "but" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "baú" is a noun and "but" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "baú" vs "but" - which ranks higher?
"but" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,254 in our Portuguese list, against #13,895 for "baú". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "baú" and "but".

  • Full dictionary entry for "baú" 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 #49,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baú" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baú vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #49,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list