bellsvsbollTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,065
“bells” frequency rank
#23,868
“boll” frequency rank
64933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bells boll
Definition Plural des Substantivs bell die Kornhülse, die Spreu

Letter map: bells vs boll

Shared letters muted; letters that set bells and boll apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
bells
4 ch
boll

Pair insight - bells / boll

bells and boll are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64933, 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]. boll is at rank #23,868, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 64933, this pair ranks #624,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bells vs boll

Shared letters: bl. Private to "bells": es. Private to "boll": o.

"bells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "boll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bellsbbells · bellss · bels · belsl · blels · eblls
  • bollbboll · blol · bol · obll

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bells" for "boll" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "bells" or "boll" show up more?
"boll" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,868 in our German list, against #41,065 for "bells". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "bells" vs "boll" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bells" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "boll" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #624,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bells" and "boll" 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 #624,282 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list