bellsvsbolleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,065
“bells” frequency rank
#38,653
“bolle” frequency rank
79718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bells bolle
Definition Plural des Substantivs bell Plural des Substantivs mboddi

Where the eye mixes bells and bolle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bells (CVCCC) and bolle (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
bells
5 ch
bolle

Visual trap between bells and bolle

A purely visual mix-up. bells ([bɛlz]) and bolle ([bolle]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79718, 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]. bolle is at rank #38,653, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bolle].

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 79718, this pair ranks #210,576 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bells vs bolle

Shared letters: bel. Private to "bells": s. Private to "bolle": o.

"bells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "bolle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bells ← bbells · bellss · bels · belsl · blels · eblls
  • bolle ← bbolle · blole · bole · bolel · oblle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bells" for "bolle" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bɛlz] versus [bolle]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bells" or "bolle"?
"bolle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,653 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

Eye-level mix-up between "bells" and "bolle" 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 "bolle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #210,576 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bells" and "bolle" 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 #210,576 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