binvsbutWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#8,722
“bin” frequency rank
#7,254
“but” frequency rank
15976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bin but
Definition primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo sein: mas, porém, todavia

Letter map: bin vs but

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

3 ch
bin
3 ch
but

Part-of-speech tell for bin / but

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bin is averb and butaconjunction. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bin is recorded at frequency rank #8,722, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪn/. 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 15976, this pair ranks #55,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bin vs but

Shared letters: b. Private to "bin": in. Private to "but": tu.

"bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "but" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bin" and "but" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bin" is a verb and "but" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bin" 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 #8,722 for "bin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" 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 #55,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bin" and "but" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bile vs bin". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,715 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