Which to use
“bells” is a noun and “blas” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,065
- “bells” frequency rank
- #32,964
- “blas” frequency rank
- 74029
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bells | blas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs bell | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs blasen |
Where the eye mixes bells and blas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bells with blas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bells is [bɛlz] while blas is [blaːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bells is recorded at frequency rank #41,065, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɛlz]. blas is at rank #32,964, tagged as averb, pronounced [blaːs].
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 74029, this pair ranks #344,307 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bells vs blas
Shared letters: bls. Private to "bells": e. Private to "blas": a.
"bells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "blas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bells" for "blas" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "bells" or "blas" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bells" and "blas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bells" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,307 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bells" and "blas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bells vs bills". 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 #344,307 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.